New Beginnings
by Revel2012
Summary: Young and popular Predicous Maladore whos lived an almost completely normal life, sure a few weird things would happen but...what weird thigns don't happen in life? Predicous soon finds out how much different life really is than what anyone expected.


Jon McMillian 338

Alright. Just to warn everyone who is reading this, uhh, "book" as it is called. If something inside of you starts to feel different, something stirs, or it's a feeling that you've never felt before, well I can tell you right now it is definitely not love.

I will not explain what it is but can suggest that you immediately cease reading, unless you believe you are _"courageous"_. However it is after all, only your life, but if you feel nothing then by all means keep reading you're very lucky to learn, who knows you may even find this book quite interesting. Now again I implore you to proceed carefully and think really hard and listen to your instincts. Absolutely positively none of what you will read is true not one bit. The contents are purely fictional; none of it is even close to real. But just a recap; if anything different occurs when you are reading this or anything else happens then please quit reading I am unsure of when the effects will start but they will. Now this book is _NOT_ for young kids earlier than the age of 12, the sooner to know things the worse the outcome always seems to be. Remember: any slight different feelings you may get just stop reading I should not have to warn you again after this. If you dare to read on through this "book" then I congratulate you on your intrepidity. So good luck…Oh and another thing: remember-anything is possible, you just have to believe. And again: nothing in here exits, the fate of your life lies within your hands…it is your destiny.

You would imagine or believe that people are very smart on their actions, and that good things happen to good people "karma" right? Well nope that's not true not one bit. But one thing that is very true and quite evident: everything happens for a reason, whether it is good or bad, whether people fall to darkness or light.

Chapter 1

It started out as any normal, really boring high school day and that is not an exaggeration. The fact that our academic lab teacher was late was not surprising. He probably had hall duty or decided he needed more cups of coffee. He was always drinking coffee; it's a surprise that he doesn't go to the bathroom twenty-four-seven. That or he could be in the bathroom, none of which would surprise me, so this felt mostly normal. All the students doing what they normally such as throwing paper wads into his cups that hang from the ceiling or other things, the nerds sitting down reading huge books like goodie little two shoes, the preps talking about all the parties they went to, the jocks sitting in there usual table grunting and blabbering about how amazing last weeks game was (they didn't even win), and me and my best friend Haven sitting there chatting about very different things. Me: the hot girls in the other class across from ours, him: all the homework he seems to always get and never finishes. See, now Haven and I are completely different, well mostly, however were amazingly great friends, have been since the 2nd grade when he got his butt handed to him by a bunch of kids (my first fight, ha, not proud of it). But after about fifteen minutes of just sitting there I realized that our teacher was still nowhere to be seen. I put my head back down into what I was reading and then a few minutes later Haven abruptly stopped talking, that's very unusual. I lifted my head from the book I was reading, _Percy Jackson and the Olympians: the Lightning Thief_. Haven gave it to me sometime two weeks ago. I've been reading it awhile now, it was practically the only book I really enjoyed reading. It was a great book! Anyway I was just sitting there reading it when a teacher let herself in, the most absolutely worse teacher ever, I knew her from ISS (in school suspension, because of a slight incident I did the second week of school, which most people guessed was a fight, and they were right, I was extremely surprised I didn't end up in OSS. Kids always ended up there after a fight/if they fought, talk about luck. They especially ended up in that if they drew blood, but nope I was only in ISS from that Monday to the next Thursday, and I just got back from it yesterday, well the teacher who had walked in was Ms. Colms, now I've always thought of her as scary no joke, with her sharp crooked nose, creepy dark green eyes, and those tiny ears that seemed to be able to hear everything, I figured one of the students in my class or me, was going to have it again, she looked right at me, talk about giving someone the chills, yikes, but that could just have been because my seat was right next to the door. She stood there for a bit then finally opened her mouth which had cracks on her lips; obviously someone needs some chap stick.

"Mmk students you will be acquiring a new teacher in a few minutes your previous teacher has decided to take a sabbatical for a while" she didn't look happy, "now you must behave yourselves and greet your teacher with respect". I was slightly appalled but I kept my composure to mock surprise. Our teacher wasn't that old and surely wasn't sick, nor did he ever try and get time off work, I figured the school year was gonna suck without him. I decided to ask if she know who it was that our new teacher would be and all she said was "you will just have to wait and find out" and gave me a rude teacher like look. I pictured her falling off the roof of the school, "teacher down, suicidal jump, many happy" I laughed as I imagined it and then received an even dirtier look, I averted my eyes back to book that was laid out in front of me, out of the corner of my eye I saw her lean down towards me but her eyes were on the pages of my book and then she made like a choking sound in the pit of her throat, "what book is it that you are reading?" and even though I knew she knew I replied back anyway,

"It's called _The Lightning Thief._"

"oh, ha-ha I know that book I don't like it very much, it lacks proper detail and truths, I'm surprised your even reading it doesn't give enough credit though to any of the mighty beasts that are in it, there quite a lot stronger" I took all that as a kind of hint that if I end up in her ISS class again I better have something to do or she'll go mighty beast on me, man I was nervous now.

"Well Ms. Colmes I like it" and she just looked away like I said nothing and then stepped out of the room, once I looked back at the pages a few words jumbled around and I thought they said "beware" it was just slightly freaky, so much has changed since the last year, school, teachers, kids, everyone and everything is different. It was so weird and I never told anyone I had any problems reading because I figured they'd think I'm crazy there are a lot of things wrong with me: my eye sight, my height, my ability to not sit still, lots of things anyway my savior came in I put the book away and watched our new teacher as he arrived up to the door, I turned to haven and he wrote down a language I knew that he knew that I didn't know which was Greek, "_τόσο πώς είναι εκείνο το βιβλίο διαβάζετε_".

"Haven how many times do I have to tell you I have not studied any Greek type things so I don't speak or write or read that language" I said to him.

He looked at me then at the teacher and back at me then snickered "ha-ha I forgot how much you hate it when I do anything but our common boring language" then I made the snide remark,

"And you hate it when I start trying to dance around" and then after that I looked over to someone that was knew at our school, Haven talked about him sometimes, he looked very bored while doing his homework so he definitely wasn't a nerd, I walked over to him to actually meet him, now I guess you'd say that he's like me; Independent. "Hey what's up" I said to him, "what homework are you doing?"

"Just this dumb Algebra work, are you in Mr. Faas's class?"

"Sure am, he is not that good of a teacher really. Like he's cool but he doesn't do to well at teaching". We just sat there and talked about school and then Greek things. He knew a lot more than I did, but there was something with him that sort of kept me by him. Later on Haven interrupted us and started talking about lots of different things like he always does. Now, most people consider Haven annoying and really nerdy but no one messes with him since I'm his friend they used to a lot but I hate when people do he's like a brother to me. Anyway I ended up being bored so I walked up to the teacher to see who he was, "are you supposed to be a sub or something?" I asked.

"Well something of the sort, what's your name, kid" and when I was about to say what it was he said enthusiastically "actually never mind I have a much better idea, we'll just play a game", he had a very exited smile on his face, this teacher I knew was going to be a weird one specially sense how he looked he was skinny and had lots of hair on his face and deep set brown eyes, a large nose and ears, and his personality was just as weird. He took out a sword and the first thought that crossed my head was "umm aren't swords sort of illegal on school grounds?" But I never had time to voice my opinion he tossed the sword at me, I was expecting it to be very heavy because it looked like any normal double handed broadsword, "don't worry about the edges they are blunted but don't try an hit anyone: a blunt object can still hurt people", he said to me. I wasn't sure I'd catch it I mean it wasn't exactly pointing a nice direction, but my hands managed to react by themselves as they do whenever I'm playing with friends with sticks, I spun my arm in an arc once I caught it and arrived my first hand to meet my other, "name" he said and then I was about to object sense everyone already knew me but decided I'd just answer anyway, I could tell he was waiting for my response. Everyone's eyes were on me.

"My name is Predicous Waylon", the teacher raised his eyebrows in a look of slight surprise like he heard my name before but I've never met him, but the look faded as soon as it showed so I just dismissed it.

"Hmm…the name sounds...familiar…" he said looking like he was in thought. "Well pass the sword to someone else". I tossed it to the new kid, he caught it with surprise and fear, it took forever for him to tell everyone his name, until the teacher said "are you gonna make us wait longer or will you inform us of your name",

"Oh right ha sorry. I'm David Marshall".

"Alright Dave pass the blade", the event went on for almost the rest of the hour, however around the seventh person to go it started to get funny people dropped it for instance, like the girls. The nerds were all over the sword like it was money or a case of beer given to the poor. Later it was Havens turn… As soon as the sword was in the air he had flinched, he shied away from it like he was superman and the sword was kryptonite, and once it hit his hands he immediately dropped it.

All the kids in the class were laughing at him and I sort of was to, I mean it was funny! Anyway one look at the teacher told me that he already somehow knew Haven, after Haven was done fumbling with the sword and dropped it a few more times he just said plainly. "My name is Haven Interdane…But you already know me mostly, you came to my great grandpa's funeral last year. Said your condolences" he look at the teacher with raised eyes, and then passed the sword to the teacher who caught it but seemed to have some trouble, "how about you, what's your name sir".

"My Name, Haven, is Greegorey Gray, but you may call me, _Mister_ Gray, and you should have just handed me the sword ya know. There's not much I can do while being on crutches like this" he didn't look to happy, "Oh and meet me after class is over I must have a talk with you" Mr. Gray said pointing at his desk, Haven shrugged his shoulders in response looking a bit anxious.

I was about to ask Haven why he fumbled so much with the sword since him and I always sparred with something. But the bell rang for our next class, which some of us had 1st lunch.

As I headed to lunch I remembered that I had a lunch detention, I knew I'd be late because I was already at the other side of the school so I went and grabbed some food.

David was later than I was which was quite surprising since he's the new kid, either way we were both late, Ms. Colmes was sitting on here computer. She didn't even notice us, it made it a lot easier cause all we had to do was sign in. I felt eyes on my back, so I turned my head to the side it was just David, we had to stay in there till all fourth hour was over so we had awhile, I passed him a note. Asking him how he got in here an he told me he had "to many tardies" and then we talked about other things while we sat in there, and then after awhile Ms. Colmes stood up and walked outside.

"So how'd you get in here?" he asked me as I turned to face him.

"Well umm I maybe sorta kinda broke a desk" I said looking embarrassed. Thing was I didn't even mean to it was already broke the bolts on it were gone and all I did was lean on it.

"Wow, well great job superman." David I could tell was holding back his laughter. I saw the door start to open out of the corner of my eye and decided to turn back around before I'd get yelled at and started on my work.

The last block bell rang for everyone to be at his or her fifth block. I found out that David was in the same class as me, he was worse than I about sitting still. I couldn't blame him though especially since we were only doing notes that day it was an early out.

"Hey I have a question David" I said looking down at my paper thinking about how he caught the sword, he stared at it for a while.

"Yeah sure?" he said looking happy to be able to stop writing.

"Why were you staring at the sword today, you look mystified ha-ha" I asked while laughing quietly.

"You probably wouldn't believe if I told you"

"David, man, trust me there are a lot of things I don't believe but I'm sure it won't be that unbelievable" I looked around the room making sure no one was really listening to us. Our teacher Mrs. Seward, as everyone knew wasn't going to shut up anytime soon she loved talking about famous authors and books even though this was an art class.

David looked around I guess he was in thought of how to tell me. After awhile he finally said, "I saw something".

"Saw something? Like what."

"Those engravings that were on it ya know, well it looked like they were glowing." He looked like he was in really deep thought now, "it was very weird and I couldn't really believe it myself" he looked at me like he was trying to find answers, answers I didn't have.

I stared down at my work trying to remember if I saw anything glowing, that's when I remembered that I saw a faint light, I had thought that it came from outside, "David you may be right"

"I am being serious Predicous, I _did _see something." He looked convinced, "how about you why did you show off?"

"Hey I wasn't showing off!"

"Then why'd you twirl it around after you caught hmm?"

"Ha, Touché" was all I said back.

I sat back against my chair and then decided I didn't want to do the study guide that was laid in front of me. I took out the sketchbook that I had and figured I'd sketch something that was in the room, which was the cool thing about being in this class was that she didn't care what we did as long as we did something.

I kept looking at the clock, it was a Friday and we were supposed to be getting out early, I sighed in exasperation, as the time seemed to be going really slow.

Someone was at the door. They were looking right at me and David but they seemed to be looking more at David, I could tell who the person was, Ms. Colmes. She stared at him like he was gonna be her knew student in ISS but she didn't come in. If anyone else noticed it, it sure didn't seem like it.

I got up to let her in but as soon as I was almost to the door she left. "Okay then" I said to myself and sat back down, I dismissed what happened because we only had a few minutes left of class and for once I didn't have a detention.

Haven and I had plans for after school and we included David in them. We all met at the front of the school. As we walked towards the weight room to work out we talked about our day, we couldn't get off the subject about the sword. Haven kept trying to make up excuses about why he wouldn't stop dropping the sword.

"Come on you both seriously believe that I'd just drop something like that" he'd say his face was flushed with embarrassment.

"Well I sure do," I said giving him a look that he knew I was joking. David sat there and laughed. I told them how I just wanted to jog today so that's all we did. Later Haven called his dad asking if David could stay the night, even though we were already walking towards the park which is close to where his house was.

We arrived at the park and hung out for a few minutes and found a ride to Haven's house from one of my friends, Sean took us half way there because his mom told him to go to Walgreen's. After we were out of his car and he was gone the roads seemed empty, no one was outside, no one was driving around, we started walking and were about to pass a park and we heard screeching off in the distance.

The ounce sunny day started turning ominous, foreboding, things were almost completely still and just when I thought that was weird, the atmosphere seemed to smell like something I can't even begin to describe.

I looked to Haven and David who looked even more confused than I was, I looked around and scanned the area, all I saw was a bat, but it was gaining a lot of speed and coming at us. It grew in size as it started to near us I don't even want to describe what it looked like it had a mask on for one and for two it looked ugly.

Our new academic lab teacher walked out of a nearby house and looked at us then at the gigantic bird. "What the hell are you kids doing run!" he yelled to us.

He started changing form, but I didn't have time to watch. Haven and David were already running and not in the direction of Haven's house.

"Haven where are you going, your house is down past Boone Street."

"Predicous I don't have time to explain but were going to my other house and at the moment there are no rides available" he looked completely serious. So I just decided to follow.

We ran at least 3miles before Haven's dad picked us up, he didn't bother asking what we were running from and I didn't want to try to remember. For once in my life I was truly scared.

We arrived at his house and at first just sat there but my stomach kept pulling me like I was supposed to be going some where, Haven's dad was in the kitchen cooking, wherever that was, I looked around and all I saw was lots of old time things.

"Haven, oh my god, you never said you were rich, look at all this stuff" I exclaimed, he didn't seem to really notice it like he was used to it, I never knew he had a house like this.

He never said that he was rich; I mean he said his dad owned a few restaurants and a few businesses but he never said he was rich.

His dad walked in "hey kids I'm going to make a quick phone call and then I'll be gone for a few minutes" said his dad as he reached in his pocket.

Haven and David walked up the stairs I guess to Haven's room I just sat there, the pull on my gut got tighter so I stood up.

As I looked around I saw a door crack open, I began to walk towards it like in a trance, I snapped out of it once inside the room. The room I was in was amazing, there were many pictures, there were vases with real intricate things carved into them but what I was dragged to was sitting on a very interesting table; interesting designs and engravings were all over it and the fact that the table was marble made it more interesting.

There on that table sat two very unbelievably amazing looking swords they were sheathed, so all I could see were the hilts, the swords were on either side of a large book it looked to be a text book.

Now I always get blamed for breaking things even though I never really do it, as I leaned closer to the glass casing that sat on the table a crack appeared around and then the "lid" fell to the side.

Now that case looked impenetrable the glass was thick and had these weird gold things that seemed to be holding it together.

I thought about grabbing the book but I heard footsteps and stepped away from the book and the swords, and made it look like I was just looking at the pictures and vases in the room. My eyes went over the room and shortly landed on Haven who sat there stunned.

I figured he was gonna have a fit about me being in there, after all I'm sure this room was off limits.

Haven looked at me then at the table, like he couldn't believe what he was seeing, but instead of anger or anything else, there looked to be jealousy and astonishment.

Finally he came to, "how on earths did you open that…no one has opened it ever…or even managed to touch the book, not since the death of one of my mom's friends who she liked dearly, the swords and the book were his but he vanished and never returned" he looked like he was on a role, "and that was a very long time ago, at least that's what she told me".

Haven walked around me and to the items that sat on the table, he tried to touch them but there seemed to be an invisible force blocking him.

"Haven, where'd you even come from?" the look on his face was almost funny excepting that the situation was very confusing; Haven made an annoyed face and looked out _the_ door.

"Obviously I came in through that door over there, I saw this door cracked open and wondered if maybe my mom had come home to check up on this stuff" he gestured around the room, "then I saw you and then the open case, see this door was locked and that case was pretty much unbreakable and couldn't be open but my past years have taught me some things"

"Yeah okay, well where is David at?" I asked simply. Trying to change the subject.

"He went home," Haven said as he turned to look at the pictures.

"Home! Why home? He should have stayed here I mean that _thing_ could still be out there" all Haven did was look at me and start laughing I tell ya it annoyed the crap out of me.

"Dude I was just joking calm down" and he started laughing harder.

"Haven that is not funny"

"Sure it is, take a joke jeez, he's in the bathroom, and my dad called about ten minutes ago he'll be here soon to take David and I somewhere and to take you home, we'll be there for awhile, but yeah after he drops us off he'll take you home, oh and uh I think you should get that book and stick it in your bag…my dad never comes in here so I'm sure he won't notice but keep the swords here and then later someday come and get them".

Haven seemed to be in a trance the way he was talking like he was struggling to gain surface but couldn't. "She put that book and the swords here for safekeeping there's gotta be a reason you were able to open it, I don't know much about any of that just that whom it all belonged to".

I walked towards the table and lightly placed my hands on the book, expecting to be blocked by an unseen force but nothing happened.

I lifted the book off the table. And there sitting where the book once was, was a key. The key was pure white.

I put the book in my bag, lifted the key and turned it around between my fingers. There on the back of it there was writing on it.

The key was some type of marble, not glass, not metal, it was marble, it felt light though, so when I stuck it in my pocket I almost thought I dropped it so I checked just in case.

"Predicous, there are a lot of things you don't know, things that I only learned from the last two years, I'm telling you this because it may be the only time I see you for awhile" I laughed thinking Haven was joking. But I looked at his face and I saw that he was being honest because he didn't make any weird faces.

"Haven there are a lot of questions I have, about the book, about this room, about everything, but I guess they'll have to wait for some other time, but what don't I know about you, what don't I know that could possibly be so bad". I mean this was a lot to take in, Mister Gray for instance and this house. "Like school, how am I supposed to keep going when there is that huge creature that attacked us".

"Look that creature I cannot tell you what it is because I am not really sure, and if I were to tell you the information that I know it would only cause you more trouble and confuse you more than you already are". He seemed like he was being sincere he looked down as if he was ashamed of everything. "Back during our other school years it was different because I knew completely nothing of who I really was, two years ago when I found out about me…well I was hoping that maybe you were like me but I couldn't get a read on you. I know your different you have a destiny of your own, the fates don't control you nothing does, you're not like anyone else".

"Haven you're really not making since right now, are you trying to confuse me?" I asked trying to lighten the mood; I could tell he was upset.

"Ha, well you'll get used to confusion, and when is your birthday I sorta forgot" he raised his head looking me in the eyes.

"Well if it's September 9th then, well five months and some odd days from now, I'll be sixteen".

Haven exclaimed, "hey, that's when my mom's friend died"

"When? September 9th"

He looked at me dumbly, "No, **February 14th** or well it's a really confusing matter."

"Well how was I supposed to know you didn't exactly say when you just said that he died, you should be more specific?" I said feeling proud of the large word I used.

David must have heard us talking or something because he made his way inside where we were.

"Hey yeah I'll send you a card or something" David pronounced card like he was having trouble saying it without making a face.

After all that happened we walked back in the living room to watch a movie, David wanted _Without a Paddle_, Haven wanted to watch some weird old movie, and me well I just sat there and watched them argue not letting them put me in the middle.

"Hey kids, I'm back" Haven's dad yelled in as he stumbled over there step that led into the room.

Haven's dad looked like some poser, he's really tall but skinny, no muscle a lot like Haven, but I'd probably say that Haven is strong mainly because he lifts with me after school.

Haven's dad was wearing a biker jacket and then these biking pants that looked like they had pads underneath, and under his pit he had a helmet with a symbol that I knew was the Greek symbol for omega, so he didn't look that dorky.

Like I said before they're rich, they have 3 really nice cars, 1 small truck and 1 very large truck, and on top of that they owned 3 motorcycles all of which I saw before I got inside his house, man I'm jealous.

"Are you boys about ready to hit the road" he said as he took off the jacket.

"Um yeah dad, well not really I need to pack still" Haven said and he ran up the stairs. Their house had three floors on it, like I said, RICH!

"Well dang Haven hurry up we don't have that long remember the bay area down there closes early today, and we wont be able to get you and David to that place!" his dad yelled up as we were heading towards Haven's room.

As soon as I saw Haven's room I gasped, his room was like three of mine, no scratch that four, he had things all over his wall, ancient looking pictures of people fighting, shields and crests, swords of all types, some weird knife that he quickly picked up.

I don't know how many times I've said it but I'm very jealous, I turned to Haven's dad. "So uh where exactly are they going, Haven and David I mean?

"Hmm what oh, they're going to a—"

"Dad! Shh, remember people aren't exactly aloud to know about it" Haven did a quick look at his dad.

"As I was saying before Haven rudely interrupted me," his dad said as he cleared his throat, "they're going to a special school type camp thing for the remainder of the next few years. I'd have you go since you already know a few things, uh, but your aren't really eligible, sorry". I could tell he was being honest so I just shrugged my shoulders in response.

"It's alright I don't mind going to the same boring school"

"You know it's not all bad going to that school you could have worse" he said while helping haven pack more things.

It seemed like forever, sitting in the back seat with David in Haven's dad's _Chevy Silverado, _Haven and his dad were in the front, this was their "small truck" but it didn't seem that small to me.

We were really just listening to music, _z107.7, _actually at first we listened to the oldies, but we all got into an argument on what station we wanted, Haven's dad and I liked 105.7, David and Haven wanted 107.7. As the argument wore on Haven finally came to an idea, he pulled out this half dollar type coin except it wasn't a half dollar, the coin was pure gold some large symbol on it which I knew all to well.

Haven and David won so there was the outcome, we kept driving and once I figured that we weren't going to stop any time soon. I pulled out my mp3, and passed out.

That's how I normally am, I've never really been able to stay awake during rides of any kind, my dad thinks its because I get car sick.

I woke up every now and then, wondering where we were, but then I'd just drift back off, but even in sleeping state I was still half awake that's why I could wake myself up.

I could tell we were going way past the speed limit, like way past it, I was wondering why there were no cops around and how we were going so fast and anyway I must have ended up sleeping longer than I thought.

We must have reached our destination because haven and David were no longer in the vehicle and my mp3 was all tangled up.

I decided it was time to awake completely; we weren't speeding anymore so I guessed that meant we were close to Troy.

As I looked around, Haven's dad looked back in the rearview mirror, "oh hey it's sleeping beauty" he laughed out loud.

"How long was I out" I asked after I got done yawning, the digital clock said it was 10:03p.m.

"Not counting all the brief times you woke up only to fall back asleep, um about 8 hours and thirty something minutes" he said causally. I looked outside and thought to myself, _hmm well we got out early for school at 11:30 and we went to Haven's rich person house and then I was in that room, ugh gosh what did that clock say. _I sat back and thought harder trying to remember. _That's right! It was around 2whenever we left_!

"Sir I've been wondering…what's your first name?" I asked as we went passed the _Welcome to Troy_ sign.

"You've known me and my son how long? And you forgot my name"

"Well yes and no I remember it started with a V, but that's all" I laughed shamefully.

"The names' Von, and hey, were on 47 so, uh, where is it that you live?"

"HA! You forgot where I lived, and just go down—" I explained to him the directions and the shorter ways to get to my house. I thought it was funny how he forgot since he drove me home so many times. In the truck Haven's dad, Vaun gave me a card.

"Hey if you ever need me just call this number or uh well never mind, just call the number" he said as we pulled into my drive way

"Thanks for the ride and the card Vaun" I hopped down from the truck and was about to head to my door when I remembered my bag. Vaun walked around the truck with my bag and walked with me to my door, he then handed me the bag. The door to my house suddenly opened, and my father quickly stepped out and shut the door, like trying to save me, it was really dark outside so I couldn't see the expression on his face so I just stepped inside, where I get yelled at.

My sister was sitting on the computer, on face-book, as usual, but as soon as I walked in BAM. "Oh my freaking god, Predicous you've been out all night, did you forget you were grounded, dad is really mad at you, like no joke."

I didn't bother listening to her, my feet walked me into the kitchen where my hands got a glass of water all on their own like I wasn't really controlling them, I chugged that water down like it was a fat person on a Twinkie.

"Hey! Did you not hear me, you're lucky Kim is at her brothers this weekend, and she'd have a fit". Suddenly my dad walked back inside the house stroking his head which had no hair on it because he buzzed it all off.

"Vanessa leave your brother alone", I looked at him and his look told me he was on my side this time, "He's had a long day, and plus he called before he left Haven's, and Haven's dad explained why Predicous is late, they saw a movie". We didn't watch a movie and I wasn't about to get caught so I knew I had to think fast. I was a great liar but I absolutely hated doing it, but I couldn't just tell my dad what happened over there, I mean, it was unbelievable anyway. He ruined my thoughts.

"So Predicous did you have fun today", I noticed how he emphasized "fun", so I picked my words even more carefully. I quickly put together false pieces of information.

"I liked the movie, the beginning was alright, but I mostly slept through it"

"Leave it to you to fall asleep during a movie" my dad said with mock excitement

"Do you think I'm still grounded or what?" see I was grounded thanks to that fight I let myself into and was hoping to be ungrounded today that's what I figured since he was going to let me stay the night with Haven.

"Actually I planned on un-grounding you fully when you came back, however there was a phone call from Mr. Neeson. You have another Saturday detention"

I shuffled me feet trying to not meet his gaze. "Mr. Neeson also said that he's tired of you being so disrespectful to him, all those snide comments you seem to make a lot"

Do you ever realize how often teachers and principals lie to parents its quite a lot but it seems to happen to me all the freaking time and I can't really say anything because my dad just won't believe me.

"All right dad" was all I said.

I slowly walked to my room, pretty much just sulking, and then suddenly the phone rang, we have 3 phones all cordless besides the one in the kitchen and well there was one in my room.

I rushed over to the phone and picked it up to see who was calling…it was my school.

"_Hello?" _I heard my dad say.

"_Yes Hello, we are calling on account of your son Predicous"_

"_Yeah I know, he has a Saturday detention I got it in the mail along with a phone call from Mr. Neeson" _he sounded slightly aggravated

"_Yes we know that Mr. Neeson talked to you however this is a different matter" _the lady said sounding like she knew something, "_Do you know if anyone is listening in"_.

"_Yeah no one is listening in"_

"_Well did you even check?"_

"_Well no but—"_

"_Don't give me an excuse check!"_

I knew what they meant by check, so I hurriedly tucked the phone underneath my first mattress and then hopped on my bed and grabbed out my book.

"So you're not even going to bother doing your homework?"

"Nope, I don't have any" I sat there and kept my eyes on the book, "and plus I left my Biology book at school anyway"

"Well sucks for you then" he said, walked out and closed my door.

"_How about now, is it all clear?"_ the voice on the other side said.

"_Yeah, alright well what do you need?"_

"_Predicous saw through the fog today"_

"_He did?" _my dad exclaimed, ok so I was really confused now, there was no fog today so they're crazy, I listened in further.

"_Yes, he seems to be maturing more, and his anger seems to be helping us more an more, he's so much more different than the old one, at first he wasn't though"_

"_Do you think that It's possible that the old Predicurseus might have done something to where Predicous would pick between good and evil faster?" _my dad asked, and the way his voice was I could tell he was deep within thought

"_Not a chance, Predicous has to much anger in him, and he wont be able to make the same decisions that the old one did, because there is no war, nothing is brewing_"

I couldn't take it anymore the voice that was on the phone seemed to change every once in awhile but I didn't want to listen to it.

As I laid my head down I remembered to shut off my light I could still here my "dad's" voice, my hearing seemed to catch him, I peeked around the corner and listened to him talk.

"I don't know if we should keep doing this I mean is it really that big a deal" the look on his face seemed to be a mix of anger and compassion even a little sad. Something told me to back up into my room, so I did, but I kept listening:

"NO! I am not attached to him, I just want my family safe, I am not even close to an attachment with Predicous" he said as he walked past my door probably to see if I was awake.

My light was off and I was in my bed so it probably looked like I was passed out especially how I had my covers, my face was uncovered though.

I heard him sigh, I looked at his face and knew he couldn't tell I was awake, but I did see pain on his face.

"Yeah, it was a dangerous move giving him a Saturday detention, he knows about a few things now I'm sure his little friend told him, well I need to go. There's things I need to get done I'll contact you tomorrow, bye" I heard the phone click off.

I waited about fifteen minutes after he shut the door to his room, and I got out of my bed, used the bathroom, and flipped my light switch on.

There was way to much on my mind to try to actually sleep, so I took out the key that was in my pocket, there were four rings on the bottom like it was a type of brass knuckles.

I set the key down on my dresser than decided that was a bad place to put it, I grabbed a string and put it through one of the rings on the key, then set it in a certain spot, I then took out the book.

It was about the size of a modern bible well maybe a little bit wider and longer, sure enough there was a latch with a all seemed like a dream, but I put the book close to where I had the key, and decided to finish up homework, concentration was always impossible for me so I stood up after about twelve problems of doing my work.

I looked around my room and decided I was thirsty, so I walked to the kitchen where I got my amazing cup of cold water.

I walked over to the sliding glass door, and sighed the moon was full tonight, I was about to turn and walk back to my room when, from the corner of my eye I saw a flash of movement.

I didn't turn to fast, because whatever it was didn't know for sure if I saw it was my guess, I walked to middle of the kitchen where we had a window that sat above our sink.

I looked through it and I saw a very large creature about maybe chest high to me, I was trying to think what to do when all of a sudden I felt something in my head.

Now you know how you think things before you say something well most the time, however I knew it wasn't me in my head something was trying to get into my head, I wasn't about to let that happen.

I kept looking outside at the figure and it was turned towards me now, I didn't feel scared though, in my head I screamed "_break!_"

Whatever was in my head quickly retreated, I pointed my fingers at the figure in a gun gesture and whispered "click, click boom".

The figure outside doubled over and looked up sharply, then disappeared.

The figure was gone; I walked back to my room and lay in my bed, "interesting" I said quietly. I figured it was just a dream.

I looked at the clock but couldn't really see what it said so I turned around facing my wall, then finally let my mind go calm and then I passed out_._

That's when the real dream came_…_They say dreams can be ways of getting through mental issues, or that they can be about past or future events, and that they are also symbolic.

Well my dreams are just straight wacky, they always seem to be attached to something or they're direct, and most the time I don't believe any of it, but they're almost always sometimes close about the events that happen_._

However I don't ever feel anything, but this is a reoccurring dream that I've been having well yea.

The dream was very interesting, a bit on the weird side but interesting, I've been having it for the past few days.

I'm standing in front of a full body mirror in some candle lit room. Wearing what looked to be some type of armor, there were two swords strapped to my back with the hilts on both sides of my shoulders, a helm was under my armpit, and beside me lying against a bedpost was a six-foot rod/staff.

That's how the dream started, my subconscious looked in the mirror, I looked older more hardened there was a nice scratch above my eyebrow and my eyes were not the same color they usually are, I looked in closer and was just amazed.

See every once in awhile I can take over but normally my subconscious does all the work, I was about to walk over to a bunch of maps that were laid out when suddenly.

"They're here, everyone be on your guard, they're here, they've breached the watch tower" someone yelled a ways off, I hurriedly grabbed the rod and ran through the hall I was in.

I woke up to my alarm clock which blared annoyingly as it does every day, and hen all of a sudden I remembered my detention, I bustled around looking for clothes and just put on sweat pants and a muscle shirt.

Then ran into the living room where my "dad" was, He was watching a movie, it seemed he had forgotten also.

He looked at me than back at the movie then his eyes got wide, "oh crap Predicous get my keys and start the Excursion" my dad yelled as he tossed the keys to me and ran into his room.

We arrived at my school at 9:08, my dad sped off into the distance nearly hitting a teachers car on the way out.I walked in and immediately knew how late I was only because the detention teacher Ms. Colmes chewed me out, "_oh what I'd give to see her fall off a cliff,"_ I thought to myself as I sat down.

I looked in my bag to see what the contents were, a few notebooks, my sketchbook, the book _The Lightning Thief,_ I decided I'd just read that.

I was getting into the book, when I heard footsteps behind me.

"Ah, still reading that book I see" she said with an unsurprising look, "well everyone else is working so can you get me some coffee?"

I put on a happy face for her an said "yeah sure"

"Oh and here get me some skittles to" she wanted skittles? How about a ho-ho with that bah teachers.

I took the dollar she gave me, her cup and me and walked to the teacher's lounge, which was pretty much on the other side of the school, so I had a ways to walk.

I kept having a sinking feeling that someone was following me, but every time I'd turn around nothing was there.

I started the coffee machine since there wasn't any coffee even made yet, and then I got her the skittles.

As the coffee was almost done I saw my shadow kind of move, talk about creepy, I thought it was just my imagination so I continued what I was doing until I heard a slight noise."Okay, whoever you are, you're not being cool so show yourself!" I looked around trying to see if anything would happen but nothing did. I cautiously grabbed Ms. Colmes coffee and stepped out of the room, as I locked the door I thought I saw something pass by me.

The air seemed to get cold and damp, and for a second dead, it gave me chills, now I know I have a big imagination but this was definitely not my imagination, I was being watched.I walked a few feet from where I was and looked around, and then calmly said, "Who are you?" There was no answer but the air shifted and then outside it started to darken, still no answer.I was about to start walking again until I saw the shadow move, "I will not ask again, who are you?" I said again as I set down the coffee and skittles, I put my hand in my pocket and inched towards the light.

The shadow started moving towards me and I opened what was in my pocket, a small bronze knife, I was on my guard.

There was a shrill sound of laughter coming from the shadow, something I won't ever forget.

"Ha-ha-ha, you really feel brave enough to stab me with a pencil or something, you can't just so you know young-one" he had a very deep voice, it wasn't as frightening as his laugh, "I'm surprise you can see me, have you any idea who and what I am?"

"Look sir, I have a detention that I must be at right now so I don't really care"

"Hmm, your definitely more stubborn than you used to be, and more disrespectful."See I was really curious to know who this dude was but I wasn't in the mood for name games and how he said that last part now that was just weird.

"I'm pretty sure I know who you are, but I'd rather you tell me yourself" I challenged him, see its bad to show fear in your eyes so I kept it out.

He came closer to me. "I know you better than you think maybe even better than you know yourself, you brought me a lot of problems back in the day, you and your, eh, grandfather, but I will admit you have talent and promise and I respect that". He stopped letting that all settle on me. "I will not tell you my name because you'll find out sooner or later, I can't believe your actually here, very few of us know about you. There were rumors, but I didn't believe them at first, till now, but I must go I have work to be doing" and he didn't even give me time to say anything back he just vanished or however a shadow would just go was gone, I was left in utter confusion, and I was now in a very bad mood, he seemed mostly friendly, but at the same time…a killer.

I walked around then grabbed the coffee and the skittles and walked back to the teacher and handed her what she asked was trying to yell at me but I was in complete state of thought, I wasn't even sure if what happened was real, its not everyday that something that freaky happens.I started back up reading my book and before I knew it I was done reading it, I looked at the time on my mp3 and groaned, I still had awhile until my detention was over so I laid my head down and slowly fell asleep.

I dreamt that I saw Haven in some kind of weapons training, he was sparring with David, well actually I thought they were really fighting but anyway, David seemed the same, maybe a little more macho, but the same, he was amazing at sword play.

He back-slashed then turned it into a pin point attack, he did a few fakes, and did this cool swing with his arm that sent Haven's sword up in the air, an then he thrust his blade at Haven's exposed neck but he stopped only an inch away.

I woke with a start when Ms. Colms shook my shoulder, "Predicous wake up" she was saying, and I looked around, yep everyone was already gone, I grabbed my stuff and called my dad to pick me up.

"That went a lot longer then you said it was going to be" he grumbled with annoyance.

"I know dad I sorta fell asleep"

"Yeah well were going to Wal-Mart, there are things I need to get"

"All right" was all I said back and I turned my head towards the school and thought about my encounter with the shadow dude I started wondering if it was possible that him and the cloaked guy were the same.

I talked to my friend Josh up at the store and he handed me some gum, "I have like twenty packs at home" he said to me, I laughed and then headed back to my dad.

When we got home I stayed outside and walked in my woods trying to pass time and think, I walked over to my friends property where there was a old hog farm, we were gonna turn it into a paintball area.

I got to work on the shattered glass that was on the ground, and stacked up wood that I figured we'd reuse, I was the one to find this place.

Ten years ago we moved up here in this small doublewide trailer, I explored the whole area and met some friends and I didn't tell anyone but I found a hog farm it was all messed up but I'd go there often.

A few years later someone moved close to there and then I decided to show my friends the farm we didn't go there that much but it was cool.

So for the last year we've been cleaning it up, anyway back to the present.

I created a nice hide-away shelter in a ver large tree so someone could get up there and snipe people but problems was it'd be hard to get down so I found a rope and made like a levy so people could use it.

Anyway I did all of that to pass the time and it worked very well.

I laid down in my bed once I got home and fell asleep this time I didn't dream, my brain was to tired.

The days seemed to be flying by, the gold days, the purple days, the weekends all of them. Things were harder but it seemed easier as well, I'd hangout with my friends after school and I'd miss Haven.

The teachers didn't even bother to call his name like they already knew he was gone, Mister Gray though knew differently, I hadn't seen what he turned into but he was at the school so I figured he'd taken care of the problem that happened.

And Like I said the days seemed to be flying by, as did the months.

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

School Pep Assemblies, or as the nerds call it SPA, I wouldn't mind being in one of those I laughed at the double meaning, we had about ten minutes till the assembly when Mister Gray got a call from the office.

"Predicous?" he called out.

"Yeah?"

"They need you in the office" he gave me a look probably saying be careful

"All right" I headed down the hall way, down the stairs and then walked in the office, I was called to the office a lot these past few weeks it was getting really old really fast, on top of that I had to write down the time and date that I went down there which was **December 16th** at 10:43 a.m.

I went over to the seats they had and Mr. Neeson spotted me.

"Come on in Predicous" he said

"All right Mr. Neeson, what did I do this time" I replied biting my lip to hide my anger.

"Don't sass me boy"

"I'm not sassing you, I'm confused as to why I am in here again" I showed a hint of agitation.

"Well it says here that you skipped last five detentions that you had, I'll be down and honest with you, mister Maladore, I am tired of your disobedience, you seem to think the whole world revolves around you" I was about to interrupt when he cut me off, "now I want you to see where I'm going with this so sign here please, your signature—"

"That's a load of bull," I said, " I didn't skip, so I'm not signing anything" I could barely contain myself, to many times I was blamed for things, I was so angry, I couldn't believe they were seriously trying to tell me I skipped.

"Now listen, I know you didn't go because see, teachers don't lie students do, and the teachers that worked those last few detentions said you didn't show up, now quit being difficult, there's no point in lying, you are trapped Predicous". He said to me and there was some kind of gleam in his eye.

I was speechless I remembered everything that happened I mean all I did was sit there forever, I was so angry my actions became very irrational, I said the first thing that came to my mind."Screw you! I did absolutely nothing wrong, I know I freaking went, ugh! This school sucks" I stormed off through the door not bothering to talk to any of my friends that were in there.

No one tried to stop me as I left the office; I walked to the commons area and sat for a few minutes trying to think of what I should do because I still had awhile.

The seniors got out early so I figured I'd get a ride from a friend and then stay home.

"Hey Jacob your leaving early right?" I asked him

"Yeah why?"

"I don't feel like staying here for the assembly think you can drop me off at my house?"

"Yea sure" he didn't seem to care that I was gonna tag with him. As we got into his car I could see the parking lot cop guy checking people, luckily I hopped in Jacob's trunk till I knew we were out, now I must say I think there was a vent in there because I wasn't burning up.

I pulled myself out from the trunk and into the backseat and then him and I listened to a few songs and jammed out to Lady Gaga.

Once he dropped me off though is when I made a huge decision. My sister wasn't home yet so that meant either she had work or she was with dad.

It was time to start packing, before I did that I took out my journal and put down the date, I did that for every big decision I had to make I'd mark a date but wouldn't write anything else.

I had to think before I started packing, I went and sat on my couch and looked at the time thankful that Kim was going to be at the church.I walked over to the phone to see the messages, most were for my dad, one was from Kim's mom, and then the last one was from dad.

It said he was going to be late getting home because he had to do a mechanic fix or something like that at someone's home; my dad is some type of mechanical engineer, except he's a personal someone calls his phone and they set up a reasonable price for the hour he puts on it then he normally says yes and goes to work. So I had plenty of time to do what I needed to do.

I first decided to pack some clothes. I had 2 duffel bags, 2 school bags. Anyway I needed to pack some clothes. After a while I had most the clothes I was going to wear in my bags. I decided I needed to write down things that I thought I'd need, and while I wrote I thought about how I was going to miss everyone here in Troy, how I was going to really miss my family the most.

"I can't believe I'm doing this" I said aloud, I felt bad about leaving, and in a way this felt almost unreal.

I wandered the house gathering things I was going to need that were on the list, and then stepped into my parents room, and looked around to see if there was going to be anything I'd need.

I found a stash of money in a baggie, a very nice buck knife, my dad's Taser, and I thought about grabbing his crossbow but decided it'd slow me down. I counted the amount of money that was in the baggie, there was definitely enough to last me a month there was eight-hundred-fifty dollars, I walked to my room and gathered up what money I could find.

I walked down to my dad's garage, took a nice big look at it; it was basically two stories tall and it was wide, my dad doesn't know that I know but it has a basement full of stuff, the garage doesn't have very many windows.

Its powered by six solar panels and a wind generator along with a back room full of batteries in case we don't have the sun or wind, there's three solar panels on each side of the roof, and then on the flat of the roof the large wind generator sits on that and moves to wherever the wind is.

I walked inside and looked around for the six foot aluminum rod that I was working on, and came upon other things I thought I was going to need for my journey; a hatchet, a wood cutting ax, a mallet, spray paint, and finally I saw my rod.

It wasn't fully done yet, I mean sure it was pretty much a long cylinder shaped object but there was many things I was doing with it, however I also still needed to paint it, basically just finish it. Jogging back up to my house, I gathered all my bags and stuck them all by the door. I realized there was stuff in my dad's office that I could use, I'd give it back, I grabbed his machete, his motorcycle boots and gloves, and then I grabbed a heat/freeze bag for food.

There was still room in my bags since the school bag and one of my duffel bags had clothes in it the other one didn't, I put a few extra things in each of them; my flash drive, that book Haven gave me, extra pair of shoes, and my all time favorite weapon that no one knew I had, my nine millimeter pistol, I had my friend buy it for me along with forging me a weapons license I had plenty of hookups, I went back into my parent's room and grabbed my dad's leather duster/trench coat, it had a pocket big enough for a gun to fit so I put my nine millimeter in there, I was set and ready to go.

I had to be smart about how I did this, so I wrote a note: _Dad or Kim, Hey yeah I'll be gone for a while, not sure how long but I'll be going on a bike ride probably into town, so the time is around 7:15 so I should be home before nine, you don't need to worry about me I'll be fine, I have my key on me so lock the doors when you get back. Signed Predicous Maladore, I love you all, be safe._

I had plenty of time to do whatever mainly because it wasn't anywhere near seven, it was only now just 3:45. I grabbed my things and walked outside, it was warm, the ground may have been cold but the sun was up and the air was almost perfect it helped that I had that Duster on, but I had so much stuff to carry it was ridiculous.

"Let's take one last look at the farm." I concluded.

I walked to the hog farm knowing that there was still so much unfinished work that had to be done but also knowing it wouldn't happen now since I was leaving. As I walked I could tell something was following me. The woods has a way of hiding things, however I've always been good at spotting what it hides, I love the woods is all I can really say.

My footsteps were heavy in the cold snow, and with every step came old memories, and while I was in thought I happened to look over just to scan the surrounding woods.

My eyes came across something I didn't recognize at first but as my eyes went back to it I could make out a shape. At first it seemed to look like a dog or wolf but then again as my eyes adjusted it looked like a bear.

My steps became more cautious, and out of the corner of my eye I noticed the animal was stalking me.

_Breathe_. I thought to myself. _It's only your imagination, there aren't any bears in troy, it doesn't matter I just need to breathe._

I quickened my pace, trying to get to the hog farm as fast as I could, the creature I had guessed was still following me, I had to much stuff to try to do something and I was also really nervous.

Looking to my left where I saw the creature or bear or whatever it was, the thing wasn't there, that's when I heard growling from behind me.

The good thing about the hog farm and the woods is that you don't have the sun glaring in your eyes, so when I turned around my eyes didn't have to adjust.

And there it was, staring right into me were two bright grey eyes. The animal, creature, whatever it was seemed to be waiting for me, and then I realized it wasn't stalking me like it would prey, it was following me.

I suddenly felt a gentle nudge against my mind, the feeling is hard to explain, but it's like a headache that doesn't hurt. I got nudged again, then I looked at the creature and saw that it was staring very intently at me, like it was trying to do something, and then the nudge ended up being more of a bang and then I heard a whisper.

The whisper was hard to make out, but it sounded like it said a question or something, then all of sudden I felt something enter my mind.

_Am I in yet?_ I was taken aback by the voice because it definitely wasn't mine.

_Hello? _I said cautiouslyin my head.

_Ah finally, I've been trying to contact you for some time, and that little stunt you pulled the other night well wasn't a good way to greet me._ The voice inside my head said.

Ireplied_. Well I don't exactly know who you are and I have no clue what "stunt" you're even talking about._

_Do you not remember? _

I carefully sorted through my memories and I could tell that the voice was somehow seeing them, and then I decided to quit because I still didn't know the voice it wasn't something that sounded familiar.

The voice was deep and hard, yet it seemed to have a kind tint to it.

_I think I know what you are talking about now, _I said remembering something that had happened during the night I woke up and saw something out my window, _that was you outside my window, that was you who I saw out my kitchen window._

_Yes._

_What was your business? It's not an everyday thing where you see someone outside around 3 in the morning. _I said trying to keep my calm

_I would rather not explain, at the moment we must sever the connection you are growing tired, however I will tell you I am a friend and I am your protector assigned to you by you._

_Fine, we will talk later then._ I said

I started realizing I was sweating, like that took energy out of me. Finally I started walking again since I knew the creature was on my side, but even though it said it was on my side, I still didn't trust it. I looked behind me to see if it was still following me and it was but it looked around nervously.

There have been times while I was in the woods that I would hear snarls, or I would see movements, but nothing would ever happen.

Something above us made a noise that echoed through the woods making me jump, the noise wasn't like a snarl, more like a high pitched howl.

Off in the distance I saw creatures running towards us, I wasn't sure what they were but if you've ever seen the movie _Avatar_ you would have a pretty good idea.

I couldn't tell what they were; they were not like any coyote I've ever seen.

They did look like those creatures off of _Avatar, _the ones that attacked the main character in the beginning when he was that blue guy; only difference was these looked meaner.

There canine teeth were long, almost like a saber tooth tiger's, they had spikes on their backs, their eyes were grey, and their bodies looked like sleek black leather, and they were at a dead run at me.

One of them was already closing on me so I dropped my bags off my rod/staff, and in a swift movement brought it down on my attacker.

The creature that claimed to be my protector and friend held up his part in being my protector because above me one of those creatures dropped down and he jumped up and pushed the snarling creature on top a sharp rock.

More were still coming and they're snarl would have made anyone laugh, I mean you get these scary looking creatures and then you hear their snarls and barks, they sounded almost like squeaky toys.

And then when I thought we had enough problems a very large one of them slowly stepped out, as one of the nasty creatures landed on me.

We were overrun, I started thinking, my mind was racing, and then a thought hit me.

_If my protector dude could get in my mind is it possible to get into something else's mind._ I smiled to myself.

I looked deep at the creature that was atop of me, then I closed my eyes getting rid of all emotion, all other thoughts, and then I could feel myself start to slip from my own conscious, I got scared from the feeling and almost retreated until I knew I had to keep going, I pushed myself into my attackers mind.

There were walls, or something of the sort, I pushed and prodded at them trying to find a door and then it seemed as if the walls disappeared.

I realized that my protector hadn't breached my mind like I did with this creature, I had full control.

I opened my eyes and saw what the creature saw, a hooded figure wearing a leather duster, on the ground, it was me. I felt myself still connected to my own consciousness so I knew I wasn't gone but I had to hurry.

I made the body of the creature turn around, I could feel it fighting to regain its being but as it fought I could also feel it slipping away, as I turned around I saw its chief or whatever that really large creature was, and I slowly walked towards it.

The creature started to transform and then I felt myself drift back to my body, realizing how tiring it was.

And in the place of the chief of the creatures stood a man or something like a man.

His eyes were the same gray color as the creatures; he stood at about seven feet tall, with claws instead of nails and vampire like teeth.

He walked towards me and did something I did not expect, something you wouldn't imagine someone so creepy to do…he bowed.

"Very interesting" he said, his voice had a tint of Mexican, however wasn't that deep surprisingly. "I knew though you'd put up a good fight, now the real decision is near whether I should spare your life or not"

"You can do what you want but I wont go down without a fight" I said while I started standing up, "Sure your all beastly looking but even the giants can fall"

"You talk bigger than you are child," he said as he walked nearer to me still keeping a good space, almost as if he was actually afraid of me. "There is something going on, and I want information, so tell me what is this rumor that's been going around, is it true than a certain someone has returned?"

"Yeah, no I have no clue what you're talking about pal," I said rolling my eyes as yet again someone was talking nonsense.

"I guess I'll just have to find out a different way then, however if our paths should cross again I will not spare you, oh and my name isn't pal its Brakon"

"Very nice sir, but really I don't care I'm just trying to get somewhere so I would like to be going", I said as I walked towards my stuff.

"Do as you please and oh child that little staff of yours if you ever need any assistance with it I'd gladly do a few things for you, I mean you did put up a great fight, and you'd make an honorable foe but perhaps a better ally".

He turned around and walked away, I watched him walk and then he flashed back into that huge ugly creature and bound away.

As I picked up my staff, I noticed how the snow had stopped falling. I took a look at my protector.

_Are you all right? _He asked me sounding a tad bit worried

_Yes I am fine, just a little shaken up._

_Very well you should be…you may not understand, but the world you thought was simple. Well its not simple at all and there are a lot of things you don't know, and I can only follow you so far until you'll have to be on your own for awhile. _He paused letting all of that sink in, _the humans do not know about me yet, and neither do most the god-lings, so I must be careful if I have to survive, The gods don't even know about me at the moment._

_I still don't understand though I can ask questions some other time when we have more time but I'll only ask one, what's your name._

He sat there for a long moment, and I started feeling the sweat come, and when I was about to break the connection he spoke up.

_My name is Aldwin. That was the name you gave me when you found me in the old times, you protected me from many bad things, my kind was nearing extinction and you saved me, and we became close, now it is my turn to protect you._

I closed the connection before I would get to tired and then we started walking together. It was a long walk thanks to the woods and the snow.

Rain started to fall around us making it harder to see, for a few minutes I thought I got us lost, until I saw the familiar tree that had the tire strapped to it.

The tree was a different color then all the rest of the trees it had a army camo look to it only it was white and grey, there were carvings on it on the top, and the leaves that weren't there thanks to the snow were usually a bluish green. I stopped by the tree and took out my knife. After my knife was out I carved a simple two-word thing, gone forever.

I looked at the carving, as I knew there was a very large possibility of me never coming back. I was going to have to leave a lot of my friends behind. Leave my family and leave just about everything I've ever loved.

I got back on the trail and crossed over the fence that was in my way, and walked over to the truck that sat down beside a building with a bedroom in it. I climbed the truck and got atop the roof of the building and looked over the terrain, it felt normal to be looking over the area like I've done it before.

Everything seemed so odd whenever I walked past it, the trees were dead thanks to the cold, and a lot of the brush we cut down was under snow.

I few deer pranced past below me and I guess; was looking for food, they didn't notice me though and I watched as they fed on the hay below. It was a sight worth remembering.

I made my way back down to Aldwin, where he waited for me, sitting on the deck of the worn down trailer. He watched me slowly then looked at the deer as they left the area.

I felt for the connection with Aldwin, which was becoming familiar. _Aldwin, what is the plan, I mean I don't think I can exactly have you with me this whole time since well people would notice a very large wolf._

_Yes I understand. I will leave you and then meet up with you at a later time. But you need to be prepared for when we meet again, so you must get lots of training._

_Training? Uh well all right then that sound's good to me._

He looked around, and sniffed the air, _the air is sweetened with snow, your senses will get strong and there'll be a lot of things your going to be going through. Some will even cause you pain. I will go now._

And with that he went away leaving me slightly confused. I looked up realizing how dark it was, I took a look at my watch and remembered that it normally got dark around five, and my watch said it was five thirty-three.

I headed down towards a road that I knew led to old highway sixty-one. On the road I had plenty of time to think out a plan, one thing was for sure though, I was gonna do a lot of resting, a lot of walking, and I needed to call on Haven's dad, Vaun.

Every time I go on walks there's always a feeling I get in my gut whenever I get lost, like a pull, it helps me find my way through things.

It was a good few hours before I ended up walking past the taco bell in troy and decided I should go to Wal-Mart.

I was glad that Wal-Mart had about ten-acres of woods; it was going to be very helpful to hide a lot of my stuff. I went to a spot in the woods I knew no one would be at, took out my money, put things I wasn't going to need down, and grabbed/kept the things I knew I'd need.

I went inside, there were plenty of looks that I received form people, and at first I didn't understand, until I realized I was wearing my duster and my hood, I took down my hood so people would look less nervous with me.

I walked around for a while thinking about what I was going to need and how I was going to get it. I arrived at the ammunitions section, and decided to do a ten-finger-discount (stealing), I grabbed ammo, and safety glasses. I went to the furniture part of the store and decided to sit down. I had no clue how tired my legs really were until I sat down, I was impossibly tired but I knew I couldn't just go to sleep, time was running against me. After about thirty minutes of sitting in that one spot, I knew what I was going to need, food, drinks, and a bike.

I didn't get a lot of food, I knew I didn't kneed that much since I already had some for the road and I had plenty of money to buy things at gas stations or restaurants. The bike section of the store had plenty of newer bikes. The Mountain bikes seemed the most likely choice to choose since I was going to be on the road a lot.

Troy is a small town and well Wal-Mart may be big but there is always someone your bound to know in there whether it's the people working, or if its someone you just know. A friend of my dad's friend was in there in the same section I was in, they immediately recognized me.

"Hey, how are you". It was Teresa; she was trying to look for biking gear, I guess for her stepson, Josh.

"Hey Teresa, I'm doing pretty good, just waiting on my dad to get here," I replied trying to be casual, "hey can you get this bike down for me please." It was on the top rack and Teresa was a pretty tall woman.

"Yeah sure honey," she said as she stood up to reach the bike I pointed out to her, "your dad is coming here to buy you this?"

"Yep, its one of those high quality type of bikes, I'm getting different tires for it though."

"Oh well that's nice," she was back to looking for what she needed, "alright well, this Wal-Mart doesn't have what I need, so I'll see you around Predicous." And with that she walked towards the front.

I grabbed the stuff I got from the store and started walking out towards the flower shop area, the detector type things don't work over there, it would suck to get caught stealing all this tuff along with the bike.

I checked to see if anyone was working in there and the person working wasn't really paying any attention but just in case I put my hood up and tightened the strings so the hood was tight on my face. I hopped on the bike and peddled out the door.

I had to weave around cars and then go up this big hill in order to get to my other things; I couldn't be caught with the bike. There was no way I'd know whether the person at the register called the cops or called the manager, who knew, all I knew was I had a very long way to go and I wasn't about to get caught, and I wasn't about to leave without a bike.

Carrying all the stuff I had wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be while riding the bike, and I knew where I was gonna go. My legs ached extremely bad going up the hill that led to my gym, I guess you could say I was lucky because I had my key card. I was almost there when I heard sirens whaling, I thought it was for me, but I saw that it was just the ambulance, "wow, freaking hate that" I said aloud to myself. I looked around to see if there were any other people and to my luck there wasn't so I showed my key. The door popped open after the second try, and I could hear music playing inside the gym. I slowly brought in the bike, trying not to bang it against the other door, and then I walked to the locker room and set everything down at once I was to worn out and sore to really put it down carefully.

The time on my watch said it was eight fifteen, that must have meant that most the people that were here left early, it was **December 16th** so that could have been why, it was some kind of date, the presidents birthday or something like that? I wasn't sure about it.

Anyway. The temperature was fine, I wasn't hungry, just really tired. I settled down into a more comfortable spot on the floor when I got my pillow out and then had a dream. But one thing was for sure; I was on edge so I woke up more than once.

I was running and there was someone else with me. Sweat was dripping down my face. All around me there was fire, and if that was anything well it was raining to, I felt myself hit something and then I fell over something, I looked back…and then I woke up.

I looked around me and it was barely even twelve yet, so I let myself drift back to sleep wondering if I was gonna end up finishing the previous dream or what. Nope my luck wasn't that good it went straight to my other dream the reoccurring dream, the one that seemed to never stop, it either came first before my other dreams or it came after and I always seemed to wake up before I could finish it.

It was the same as before and just everything of it was the same kinda like it was on a rewind. I woke up feeling the same way except I think I was starting to understand it better and just I don't know it was easier. I knew it couldn't really happen that it wasn't real.

I woke up to a noise around me, I couldn't think what it was, and then I looked at my watch and realized it was my alarm, it had a weird noise to it and I remembered I had it set to four thirty for school. I thought about just going back to sleep, and then remembered that I wasn't at home anymore. Looking around I found out nobody was even at the gym yet which was odd since it was a weekday and there's always someone either working out or working there.

I was putting away all my stuff so I could get out and then I heard people talking; I quickly grabbed my stuff and headed out of the locker room not letting the people see my face. "Hey who are you?" one of people said, I just kept going. I had two choices of doors to go out of but I picked out the exit only door because I just needed to be out on the road. It was still really early to be going anywhere and the feeling of soreness was getting to me, but I knew that if I kept this up I'd be able to just keep going so I made sure not to stop unless there was a gas station. I had a plan; I was going to go to Vaun's house. It didn't much make sense, Vaun was forty three and yet he looked and acted more like he was my age, He was always doing crazy things with Haven and I, always would take us cliff jumping during the summers, or going sky diving, there were a lot of things we did. Well used to do.

There were a lot of memories everywhere, I lived in troy all my life and now I had to leave the whole thing behind, not because of a job, or because of a college but because something is incredibly wrong with this world. All my friends, all the girls, and even some of the teachers.

The ride to Von's was long; I remembered the way, so it wasn't going to be as bad. I had to keep out of ear shot and eyesight of the police, I wasn't sure what would happen if I got caught, what I'd say, anything, everything seemed more like a dream then real life.

Haven's dad was outside, in his shop, working on one of his bikes. I walked in saw him with the old frame of his bike, I looked at the new one and was…well really surprised it looked a lot more aerodynamic, his old frame was hanging up and it looked like he was admiring it.

He turned to his other body kit that was now the bike's new frame and he was startled when he saw me. "Predicous! Oh my, how are you," he seemed shocked to see me like I was dead or something, "never mind all that just go to my study you'll see it when you walk beyond the kitchen up stairs"

"There's an upstairs kitchen?" I said thinking how weird that was, I didn't exactly get time to explain why I was there but I figured I could when he went to his study.

"Yep sure is, now I will come to you after I am done, gotta paint it, the body" he said and got to work painting. I walked inside of his house and even though I have seen it before I was still astonished by it, see it doesn't look very big on the outside but its gigantic.

I was feeling something from within me, and it was at my stomach, like a magnet, or a pull for something, anyway I ended up walking not towards the study but where I received the book from Haven. The swords were sitting there in the same spot they were first in; I said quietly to myself "they haven't been moved at all?" I wanted so bad to pick them up and just get the feeling of them, but I decided to not let the feeling get the best of me; I walked out of the room and shut the door.

I tripped going up the stairs and saw three gold coins sitting on the floor of the stairs, I figured they were like D&B (Dave and Busters) coins, so I kept them just incase I was ever gonna end up going there anytime soon. I sat down in one of Mr. Interdane's chairs, and actually passed out.

I woke up to hearing typing on a computer, which was in front of me. It felt as if I was in the principle's office, but one look around told me I was in Vaun's study still. "You seem to do a lot of sleeping?," he said as I looked up at him, "have you realized that?"

"Yeah, kinda, it is not my fault I swear," I said and laughed, "its just how I am, and I've been on a bike for awhile and I'm sore and tired"

"Speaking of being tired, I know you've been on the road I drove past you, and saw you at Wal-Mart," He gave me a look. "Now, I want to let you know, that you can stay here for a few days so you can be recuperated, I have plenty of food, however I will only cook whenever I'm here, which isn't very often."

"Really?" I asked not really believing him entirely.

"Yes"

"Well I don't know what to really say, except thanks" my mind was everywhere, "I'll do work around the house if you want me to"

"You can do as you like, but for now I must go work, you can have the guest room its down stairs next to the bathroom"

"Umm, which bathroom? There are two of them downstairs?"

"Oh sorry, I forgot, the one on the far right of the house, its next to the living room"

"Okay, well goodnight then"

"Good night Predicous" The conversation was over, I wasn't hungry and I wasn't really awake enough to look around, so I went straight to the guest room where I laid down and passed out.

The first couple of days of staying there were a breeze it was quite simple and boring; do work around the house, don't mess anything up, and don't touch anything that's not yours, go to sleep. All simple things the boring parts were when there was nothing to do, which wasn't often. He had a weight lifting room in his basement and I think there's another basement below his basement because there was a door. I didn't mess with it.

The days went on and I adopted a routine in which kept me sane. I woke up around seven thirty every morning; took a shower, made breakfast, visited Vaun whenever he was in his study (which wasn't very often since he had other things to do), worked out in the gym he had, and started writing things down, and whenever I was really bored I'd draw something. I never once touched their television. Brief and few words would be said from me to Haven's dad and he respected how quiet I was, he was very helpful.

I wandered around outside which I'd only done one other time and the first time I didn't go that far. I went beyond their basketball court, beyond their field and then kept walking. There was another field only it had targets set out lots of them and their were different types of bows and arrows sitting about fifty yards from each of them, I had no clue that Haven and his dad did bow practice.

With my routine slightly changed I began bow practice lots of it, I tried out different types; recurve bow, long bow, compact bow, compound bow, and there among the recurve was an obvious hand made bow it had an interesting curve to it along with a thick string that showed to be translucent, and the type of wood that was used was hard to make out, the grain it had was much more complex then all the other ones. I looked around during the first day and saw a sort of garage it was a type of shed, the roof was a slate in which I wasn't accustomed to and the wood used for the shed, garage, was the type of wood used for the bow I saw, I didn't go in however for fear of something dangerous being inside. Again the days seemed to fly by I had spent the remainder of a week at Von's and deiced on the next Thursday (which I end up staying longer than that) I would leave, I wanted to know what was in the room under the basement of his house. I had already inspected the shed two days into archery practice, it was a wood workshop meant for wood and there were plenty different types of wood there, and machines my school probably never saw before either, that's when I immediately started working on my own bow; I made plans for it first by drawing out what I wanted, and had decided after I was done with the bow was when I'd leave.

With all the time I had the bow was finished in another week and a day, so I stayed at Haven's dads for two weeks and three days. I was definitely on a time schedule; the bow was amazing when it was done. I used the wood that was used for the shed and the bow I saw, the wood was a white-gray color. But that's not what was so good, the bow was extremely light, was very strong and very bendable, the wood I used for my bow was hard to find in the shed though I guess it was rare? My bow however wasn't like the one I saw on the field, that bow was shorter and thinner, and the bow-string was think and almost invisible, and was basically plane, my bow wasn't entirely done but had the basics. I decided to take the tools I knew I'd need to completely finish my bow, overall though it was finished.

I walked inside and packed my things all of which I owned only, I grabbed more food and went to the shed to get my bow along with the extra tools I knew I'd need to get it to look nice and to have certain things on it.

I walked around the house trying to see if there was anything I was forgetting, my thoughts swayed over to the swords on the table but I was to afraid to take them because well it'd look weird carrying them around. I avoided the room. Finally I looked at the date, I remembered the date from when I left home; **December 9h**, now it was a **Sunday December 20th**.

The rate in which the days passed was amazingly…unsurprising to me. Before I left the huge house I wrote a note saying; _Vaun I decided to leave, I'm unsure of where I will go but I'll go somewhere I will contact you maybe, but I'm leaving who knows when next you'll see me. I borrowed some tools and cash, not very much cash I promise you. And I will pay you back you don't have to worry._

And now it was time to go. The only thing that really kept me there was the fact that I could maybe return to my family and friends, but I couldn't return knowing all the things I know now…there was to much. I went to put my duffel bags on the handlebars when I noticed my bike looked different, and there was a note attached to it. It read: "_Predicuss, I have altered your bike into electric, you can still pedal it and there is a solar panel that extends when you push a certain button. It goes maybe 70mph. how, you ask, the batteries may be only the size of a shoe, but there are four of them. Each of them have little over ten thousand watts (that's electricity) so watch the throttle and be careful, I know you are leaving, I don't know when but I know the look of someone who is about to leave and I just want to help. _I looked at the long note and took out a pen and scratched out my name (he managed to spell it wrong, its spelt P-r-e-d-i-c-o-u-s and is pronounced Pred-eh-cuss) I can't believe he spelt it wrong.

People were always spelling my name wrong or when the teachers who didn't know me saw it would pronounce it like their talking about a biology text, it always annoyed me. Before I hopped on my bike Vaun pulled in with his truck, and I got back off to greet him and inform him I was going to leave. "So you're leaving?" he questioned me, there was a hint of something in his eyes.

"Yeah" I said cautiously, walking towards him.

"Well first come inside have something to eat, you look hungry, and I have a few things to talk to you about." We walked back inside his house and sat down at his kitchen table, and talked.

"I'll be honest right now with you Predicous, I have been wondering for some time," he said, "where do you plan on going, and why did you run away from your home?"

What he asked for seemed hard for me to answer, because I didn't want to answer the second question and the first one I didn't know how to answer it, "I am unsure of where I'm going to go, and I can not answer your second question"

"I understand…well you could stay here longer"

"I would very much like to but I feel that I should be on the road, thank you for your hospitality, at first I thought coming here was a bad idea." He relaxed his shoulders knowing I was probably going to talk a while; his slim figure and deep eyes seemed thoughtful. "I wasn't sure if coming here would bring any police or if you would let me stay, I'll be walking a long time, till I can find a place to stay without cps on my back you know. And again I thank you for letting me stay here"

"What I wasn't about to let you stay on the road but if you must go then be safe. Haven might have been wrong about you, now if you feel your instincts kicking in don't be afraid to let them control your actions, because on a journey instincts is the number one thing to rely on, true fact."

I laughed nervously, knowing he meant every word, I replied with the most polite tone I could, "again I thank you, you've done many wondrous things for me"

I stood up to leave and then he took out his wallet. "Predicous I'm not about to let you go without having any source of money." He pulled out a wad of money and handed it to me, "if you need me you can always contact me and you know that. I'll help you the best I can, I know that you seem to eye the room with the swords, they are very old. As you probably know they belonged to someone that Haven's mom liked dearly, the book however is gone. It is possible I could have been robbed, I've been robbed more than once from people, but that door has never been opened, you see Predicous this place belonged to a lover of mine, and she gave it to me; however that door has been locked for a long time." He looked away getting into thought, and I couldn't help but feel slightly bad for him.

"Sir. I do not believe in fate but the last time I was here I walked towards it and the door opened it did not seem locked," I wanted to explain more but was reluctant to do, "I did not steal the book I don't count it as that. In fact the case that held the book opened, the swords I have not touched for fear that something bad could happen."

He looked at me with surprised eyes, "the book accepted you?"

"I wouldn't say accepted?"

"No that's not what I mean. See the last person to even try to touch that book lost their hands," it looked like he was about to get into another one of his story modes, but he only said a few more words, "go Predicous I should not keep you here any longer."

I shook his hand, looked at the door, and then walked to the outside where I hopped onto my bike. I sat there in that spot until I came up with a proper plan but when nothing seemed to really work I decided winging it would probably be the best way. I said to myself "Here comes a rough ride."

The wilderness was alive as found myself many times inside of it to hide from the cops. Crossing creeks, and going around small forest swamps, I kept a heavy pace, never stopping. It was getting very late and with every pedal I did I felt the need to go faster, something was helping me to do this, I knew I biked several miles; sure I biked all the time around town, but never through towns. I thought struck me while I looked for a clearing in the woods that could lead me to a civic rode, a rode that could take me on the highway, I didn't want to be in the woods in the dark sure my bike had a headlight…"are you kidding me!" I said loudly to myself as I remembered that the bike had a system on it to which I could just relax. I pushed a switched and watched carefully as the moonlight shown on my pedals. They slowly folded up into my bike and small pegs came out the bike started to slow down, until I hit the throttle, I was jerked as the bike violently lurched forward nearly throwing me off balance and off the bike, I released the throttle a little. "Well let's treat this more like a dirt bike," I said feeling the quick course of adrenaline, "I don't want to end up pulling a stunt on accident and crashing, ha." I remembered my mp3 player, put the bike to a quick stop, and pulled out the music device. The song I was jamming to was by Disturbed it's called Indestructible, my dad adored that song, he said that they should put it with an action movie or something. There were lights ahead of me to my far left that I recognized as highway lights that marked an intersection, I walked my bike towards the light feeling the thorn bushes tear at my tough clothes, I was going to need to find a new duster by the end of my journey probably. I pulled out into the opening and almost fell down a large steep hill that led down to the side rode, I realized I hadn't looked at the time in many hours and decided now would be a good time. I pressed the light button on the watch I had: 12:12. I gawked at the time for some moments not believing it. And when I looked up I saw a large green sign, one that I knew very well was the sign to show the exits, I couldn't make out the words or numbers on it because I didn't have glasses, my eyesight if I haven't mentioned it is pretty bad, the closest exit lead to some place called Godfrey IL, which the IL stood for Illinois… I'd been pedaling for more than a few miles like I thought but I had no idea that I had been keeping such a steady pace. What would have taken me a lot more time only took me somewhat of seven hours. There must have been something in our food; he must have put some kind of potion or energy surplus that would give me an extra boost.

Being on the shoulder of the highway made me nervous for two reasons, one: because how fast I was going, and two: because the cars that were on the wide road seemed to always drift towards me making me have to go to the side, there was no speedometer on the bike so I had no idea how fast I was going however I knew I was matching some of the cars, the ride was kind of lonely just being me and I really wasn't sure where I was gonna go but I didn't wanna stop or anything, must be that surplus I had in my food. Someone honked at me from behind totally ruining my mood, and then some kid saw me out the window of their car and was pointing his stubby fingers at me, "I guess people don't have much respect for others" I said to myself tucking my mp3 player in my inside jacket pocket. Light was starting to come from the horizon and if you've ever actually seen the sun rise on a cold winter day and it spreads its warmth on you, its indescribable; the sky was a purple-blue color with and the suns radiant orange shown golden in the sky, it was pretty amazing. I biked further out until I was reaching the town, something started tugging at my gut, I thought that maybe I was hungry so I stopped at the nearest gas station. I was sweating from the heat and the exertion of biking so much and was surprised that the gas station was still opened when I realized it was a truck stop; there were lots of hicks.

I felt like I was supposed to be at this place I couldn't explain the reason, I was more than sure that those who were still awake would probably have trouble seeing me considering what I was wearing. I was however aware that those who did see me seemed to be wary of me. I found a spot where I could stash my bike and my other belongings so that no one would try and look through what I had. As I walked in the door the woman at the cash register gave me a not so very lady like grunt of disapproval, many of the customers that were there seemed weary and detached. I sat down on one of the booths that were there so I could get a slight rest, but I could feel watchful eyes on me that made me uneasy, I didn't turn though for fear of making whoever it was think that I knew they were watching me. I opened my eyes after what felt like an hour, and went to my bags and brought out food in which I ate ravenously, the air started smelling different almost stale, it made me rush out of the gas station. I was almost to my bike when I saw that the sky around the sun had an almost red tint to it, and not far from that were the city was I saw someone running very fast and trailing whoever it was, was a gigantic dog, way bigger than Aldwin, and with a bloody looking maw. Time seemed to slow down as I realized I had to help whoever was being attacked. I hurried up, grabbed my hatchet and sprinted towards the victim being chased. I left all fear behind, I don't know why, but I felt an obligation to help as I always seem to have when I feel that someone is about to be attacked. I started thinking I was to late; I couldn't even hear footsteps running. Somehow I heard heavy panting from somewhere in an alleyway, I took a left onto ground that was half ruined and wore out from construction work and rain, there were graffiti signs all over the walls, like in the movies, and there at the end was the victim backed against a wall. In the corner of my eye I saw people walking by, but none of them seemed to see what was going on, it was almost as if they were under a spell. I looked around the beast in front of me; which didn't hear approach, the person I was going to help…well wasn't exactly a person at all they had fury legs, not like leg hair on guys like actual fur. The lower half consisted of the fur the rest of his body had a slim look but there was skin so the person was human, and he was male. As I looked up I realized the beast was spending his time eyeing his prey, looking up and down, toying with him as a cat would a mouse before it bites the head off, the goat boys deep gray eyes darted from me to the giant beast in front. I felt a tingle go all over my body as I suddenly felt adrenaline course through my body as blood would, the monster got down, getting ready to pounce onto the goat boy. I charged and slid underneath the animal without grazing my head on the ground, the smell of the beast was rank. Both of my arms went up above me sliding the hatchet through the beast, as I somehow flipped up onto my feet the beast gave a mighty howl of pain, I spun a 180 to look my opponent straight in the eyes. Where there should have been a huge gash in the beast its flesh and fur began to knit itself back in place like nothing really happened, but as I looked into the eyes of it, they were blood red, hateful and looked like the fire of hell itself.

Suddenly I remembered the bronze knife I always kept with me that was made especially for me; it had small engravings on it that I couldn't read cause they were in Greek. The blade was 6 inches long; the handle was made of different leather, which felt wonderfully with my fingers…the knife was made by Haven. I took the knife out of its sheath and got ready for anything.

Standing in front of the goat guy, I said, "What is this thing!"

"It's called a hellhound," he said back with intense fear. From what I barely knew about those was the fact that they were cunning and swift, "I don't know who you are but if we get out of here alive I'll owe you."

"Ha right," I slipped off my hood and took off the large duster along with my hoodie, I was getting ready, and I had to be fast. "Well I'm no beast but I'm definitely not up for death right now." Adrenaline was still coursing through my veins, I was really pumped, I could feel everything and my bad vision changed; I could see detail on everything, if I concentrated hard enough I could almost zoom in on what I was looking, I could even seer the muscles tensing in the hellhound before it was about to pounce. I stepped around, jumping from left to right like I would do in a football game, testing the thing's maneuverability. It was quick, my dad had told me more than once to never underestimate my opponents, to learn their moves before I actually put myself to the test to fight them. I was glad I had grabbed my dads biking pants for this reason; as I was thinking the best way to strike the beast it charged me, missed and almost ran into the goat guy. However that was a test from it to me, The beast jumped, and while it was in the air I rolled closer to it spun around to face it, Jumped and felt my knife slide through its throat. As it slid through the throat I fell and as I fell my blade cut through its stomach, while I was sliding I rolled quickly out of the way before the flailing beast would land on me. It got one thing though I nice long scratch on my back that felt like it was on fire, the pain was excruciating, but I kept my ground. Behind me was a loud, _thud_, behind me laid a very dangerous threat, a threat that as I turned around the body erupted into flames then turned to ash. I felt like an animal, my whole body felt alive with the energy I had received from what I did. I was scared, and dizzy thanks to the new scar-to-be on my back, it was my own fault though since I took off all the protection, then a wave of astonishment, anger, and surprise washed over me. "What the hell was that!" I yelled, even though he had already told me what it was it was an unbelievable tale.

The goat guy stared at me dumbfounded before he answered, "You are no half-blood, if you were I could sense it, there's ways of knowing, your obviously a mortal, but you can see through the mist." He said that like I was supposed to know what he was talking about.

"I'm not a what" I said making it my turn to be confused.

"Ugh, nothing just come with me," I was about to walk with him when I remembered what had just transpired. "I'm going to take you somewhere important."

"That's very nice but first let me get my stuff second, you had better explain what the crap is going on here," I gave him a meaningful look, "see these things started happening very recently to me sure I've seen things but not this much." I started walking towards my stuff and he followed me.

"It's all very complicated, we have a very long walk, but like, the basic things can get explained on the way, but the larger things will be explained when we get to the school." He closed his mouth, and it was obvious I would get nothing more from him about it the school or what was going on.

"What are you," I said as I picked up my stuff and set most of it the handlebars of my bike, which I had to walk it. "I know what the beast was, but I am really wierded out about what you are, I mean you have a goat looking uh, half and than a human half?"

"Okay now listen, most beings like me would trample you down to the ground, but since your new to all this" he said puffing out his chest, "I am what most Greeks call a Satyr, there are plenty different dames to call me but satyr is the one I'd rather be called"

"Right and I am David Copperfield" I shot back.

"Huh?"

"Never mind goat boy," I said irritated, confused, and anxious, "what's your plan."

"Well, I was originally heading to this school, I was out looking for something and I found it, my transport was broke so I have to travel on foot back, and now I've met you so depending on the border of the place I'm bringing you," I shook my head taking it all in, "I will explain more on the way."

"What do you mean 'school', I've already been to school?" I said

"Its like a summer school, like I said I will explain on the way" he said

"You do understand its not anywhere near summer right? Sure today is sunny and warm but it's the freaking winter" he looked me dead in the eyes and just rolled his eyes at me.

We walked away from the gas station until we reached the service rode, I was still thinking about everything that had happened, "what's your name?" he asked me looking straight.

"My name is Predicous, why?"

"Because I asked, and Haven talked a lot about you before I left to retrieve my new reed pipe, he said that you're a natural at sparring with small branches. And that you're a great friend and some other stuff, oh and well the summer school I guess I can explain more," we stopped near a bench and sat down, "It's a really long story about how it came to be, one that can be told at a later time when we have more time and are safe, but umm, well it's a year round thing, some people stay only for the summer or winter, some stay the whole year. There's never bad weather, not unless we want it to which we take votes for snow, the area is well huge, there's over 215 acres of land, all of which is hidden its on a small island that is connected to one of the states, there's a lot of our schools though just like there are a lot of normal schools, like we have schools all over the world, and I think there are seven total in the US." He paused letting it all sink in, and continued after he figured I was ready for more. "You can stay however long you want basically as long as you get the directors permission to leave on certain occasions, were all like a great big family, huge pillars guard the entrance to the school, well there's a nice big wall guarding around the school. I guess you could call it a fortress, or castle, well maybe not a castle and a—well you'll see it when we get there and learn more, I'd say its about a three week travel if we can get rides and such."

"Okay and I know barely anything about you, such as your name, your age, and what's the date?"

"Well its **December 21st**," he said giving me a confused look, "My name is Damien, I'm 26 in human years but in my years I'm only 15, why'd you ask what the date is?"

"I asked because in almost two months I'll be sixteen, you say it'll take a few weeks well that's good."

"Actually I'm not really sure, it really depends on what happens because well I sort of forgot the directions I'll have to go somewhere."

"All right then, either way as long as we get there before my birthday I'm fine" I was in a very agitated state, we started walking, I was just on the verge of 'I don't care', but I was wondering what made this school so special. We made camp after a few hours of walking, and I was glad that I had a lot of stuff, it made it easier now that I had Damien. He helped me carry most my stuff and I road with him on my pegs a few times but soon decided to quit, thus we made camp.

A few days had passed and I began to learn a lot about him, like; he had a wallet with a picture of some girl on it, she looked…interesting. Her skin was a tealish color and she had long black hair, it was wet, he said she was a water nymph. He talked about her sometimes but not a lot, he obviously missed her, and also during those days he learned things about me, like how much I had to give up to be on this journey that was pretty much pointless to me since at first I had no destination. I learned that he had a heavy English/Irish accent, I wondered if all 'Satyr's' had that accent. He was a lot taller than me, but then again I was quite short for a guy; I am only five foot five, he loved sparring with me so it made it easier to keep up my skill which was always fun.

We arrived at the place where we had to meet someone and get the directions to the camp, it was a small private high school, it looked more like one of the boarding schools where bad kids go. Anyway we walked up two flights of stairs that led to the end of a hall way which had a room/office, Damien walked in first, I second, someone was sitting at a desk grading papers, and he looked very irritated. After a few muttered curses that didn't sound anything normal to me he finally looked up, he was middle aged, Italian looking, he had thick brows, and he was built like a sports coach. "Well, what're you two standing in the doorway for sit down," He said with some authority, the door closed and we sat down. "Okay what is it Damien, are you needing drachmas, another root beer can, or monster, what?"

"Well none of those sir, I uh well, I forgot the directions to the camp, so I was wondering if you'd tell me or give me a map?"

"Well may be I'll tell you, but who's this runt?" he said it pointing at me, which took me off guard and sort of set me off…

"Runt? 'Sir' no offense but if you'd like I would very much like to make you look like a runt, I don't care who you are. I've been traveling this God forsaken world for sometime and I am dirty yes, a little scary looking yes, but a runt, hell no, you watch what your next words are because I am not afraid of you, and I'm not about to take crap, even if you are an adult, I've got nothing to lose 'sit'."

"Predicous I don't think you should…"

"No its quite alright, Damien," the big Italian guy stood up, "Now you look here, I'm not someone to be trifled with, I'm no joker, but I like your attitude, I am Shawnton Wells" he made it sound like his name was supposed to be important or something. "Judging by your blank expression I'm guessing you've never heard of me?"

"Am I supposed to know who you are?" I shot back at him.

"Well if you're a half-blood than yes."

"Ha, well just so you know, I am not a half-blood, I am a human being that got brought into all of this insane crap that is actually supposed to be fiction, not really." I stormed off outside his office and let Damien talk to him I was getting tired of these stupid conversations, I took my duster off then changed into different clothes. I pulled out my mp3 and turned up the music to block the voices around me. Kids would walk past me asking me questions that I didn't answer, a few cute girls walked past and smiled or laughed when they saw me, it was only then did I notice that we were in a gym. Everyone was wearing shorts and school shirts; some of the guys had the sleeves cut off and the girls, well their shirts are hard to explain. Damien was taking forever inside the coach's office, I took out my head phones and sat against the wall, watching as everyone sat around talking, playing with the volleyballs, throwing a football around, shoot hoops with the basketballs, everyone was doing something. I laid my head against the bleachers that were put back, after I sat there for awhile I stood up and walked to the bathroom to clean up a bit, after I was clean I sunk back into where I sat until someone walked up to me.

"Are you new?" it was a girl, about my age. I opened my eyes and replied while looking at her.

"I guess you could say that, I've never been here I'm just waiting on my friend, he's in the coaches office right now"

"Oh he's with Coach Wells, that guy is weird", she was tall, with strawberry blonde hair a few freckles on her face, she was cute.

"I wouldn't say the coach is weird more like annoying, he looks like a muscle head, that needs to work at a Italian restaurant" I said and laughed it reminded me of the coach I had at school.

"Yeah he is pretty big muscle head, but he's cool," Just then Damien walked out of the office and said bye to the coach. "Damien! Oh my gods, hey!" she yelled out and ran at him.

"Wow Damien really gets around." I said with a low laugh.

"Predicous we gotta get going, sorry I can't stay longer Vivian, are you coming back to the school any time soon" Damien said, talking to both of us, I was confused.

"Well I don't know," she said shooting me a quick look, "Wait, Damien, this kid is your friend?"

"Umm, Yeah?" he sounded confused.

"Oh well he's really cute, and I'll be heading there next month." She said.

"Awesome, Opal will be happy to see you, I Iris messaged her yesterday and she told me to say hi for her." I sat there wondering what Iris messaging was and I liked how 'Vivian' said I was cute.

She looked around before answering, I guess making sure none of her friends were around her, "I'm surprised I'm actually still here really I woulda thought that Shawnton would have taken me back by now, and tell her I said hi back when you get the chance"

"Okay then I'm as confused as ever and I feel invisible," I said making sure they'd both look at me, "I'm guessing you go to the same place as Damien and Haven and everyone else that's a…" I looked around before answering, " A half-blood?"

"Yes I'm a half-blood, my mom is Aphrodite"

"Yeah, that would make sense, and that's a little to much to comprehend so I'll talk to you later then." She looked disappointed so I leaned in and kissed her cheek. Her face turned red, I wasn't sure whether she was gonna slap me or what, she kissed my lips. It was now my turn to turn red.

"That is for the road" she said and walked off.

"What do you think?" said Damien.

"About what?" I asked as I watched her leave.

"She's never outwardly kissed anyone before normally she is very shy, and that's uncommon since she's the daughter of Aphrodite, but it is possible she's changed, its been like a year or so."

"Yeah that doesn't make sense; so that conversation can wait till we get to the school. We gota get going." And with that, we went down the stairs to the front and left. Later on during the day we went around and we found someone that I knew I could sell my bike to, it was a small business that sold BMX bikes, the guy selling the bikes bought my bike for plenty of money. I hated to part with the bike but it was necessary. Damien and I talked a lot on the way becoming even greater friends during the days, He had a small sword strapped to his hip that was his that Shawnton held for him, that's what he told me. And that sword came in handy a few times, different types of monsters would attack us at night or even during the day, I could feel myself changing but I couldn't tell what it was. Damien would get out a map and look at it with a serious expression of confusion, and then we'd head whatever way he went. On the end of the first week of our voyage we ended up meeting with a monster that was a lot bigger than the ones we were used to seeing. It looked to be like a giant frog, only this frog had horns and was the size of an average sized bear it was a wonder that no one really noticed it, anyway it leaped at me and spat. It didn't make sense for a frog to be around during the winter, especially since there's a lot of snow on the ground, before its spit could get on me I rolled out of the way. I tried to get out my bronze knife which I didn't have time, it leaped onto me and I could feel its slick feet on me and its foul breath was in my face. Damien ran up and jumped, kicked the nasty frog with both his feet or whatever you'd wanna call his lower half, and then he brought out his sword and did a flip over the frog when it tried to hop at him. It seemed like things slowed down to me, before either of them left the ground I could see Damien's legs tense up, during his flip the sword passed through the frogs whole backside making the frog make a weird sound. When we thought it was over eggs poured out of its mouth and back, melting the ground around it. We ran of course not knowing what else to do, Damien was way ahead of me thanks to his goat legs. We hurried out of the woods and then we looked back and saw miniature evil frogs chasing us, I decided to lead them away from Damien he took a few, but I had the majority of the things he only had maybe 3 mini frogs, I had the entire rest and if you've ever seen a toad or frog lay eggs and the eggs hatch...you get the point, I was scared out of my mind and then I did something that felt natural to me, I think I watch to many movies. Anyway I stopped sheathed my knife and made a hand gesture, I felt something in me tingle, I felt the presence of something vast and powerful. I felt hot; my fingers began to have a warming sensation. I blacked out before the tiny frogs came close. Damien was safely out of the woods when I woke up he was running back towards me, looking around frantically for whatever, my own eyes scanned the area around I didn't see any creatures around us.

"Oh my gods what happened to the entire little toad things?" he said, his eyes darting around.

"I—I don't know" I said looking at him curiously. As I said that a small figure shot at me from the bush to my left, Damien whipped out his sword and in a flash killed it. We watched as it slowly turned into a translucent color than disappeared.

"I think I know what happened, you must have done something to kill then all" he said trying to sound definite, "And now I am winning this game" he said smiling at me. I looked over our scores (we were playing a game, who saves who kinda thing) he was right it was now 4-2; he was winning by two points. The day wore on until it was beginning to be night, finally though nothing interrupted us on our very long walk, we kept walking until later, we had no problems, no one stopping us and we weren't on a road so everything was all fine we almost made it pass the day…almost.

It was getting extremely late that day and we were both extremely tired, we decided to put up our normal watch posts so we'd be safer. First though I thought it would be a good idea to get a fire going we were on a very large hill up from the highway, hidden by a higher hill. I went to the woods with my Hatchet and looked for a small tree. Once I found the tree I cut it down and had Damien help bring back the wood, we cleared away a lot of the snow and we made a makeshift fire. I brought out food and we ate. Damien said he'd take first watch, which was fine by me so I laid my head down to sleep. I shortly fell asleep. Again I was in the same room wearing the same outfit with the same stuff, but this time the dream seemed to be ahead of itself, "they've attacked, every—" His cry for help was cut short. I burst through the door, I saw the person who'd been yelling the alarm, and there was a six-foot long spear sticking out of his back. I felt extreme anger, adrenaline, power, I was ready to fight I grabbed out my Rod and pressed a button. Damien woke me up, I didn't get to finish my dream. However a slow realization came to me, I saw the face of the guy on the ground he was battle worn, and had a scraggly beard that was in all directions, small horns were in his head, he died with his eyes open, the same eyes as Damien. The man on the ground was him, the vision was now very frightening, there was no way it could be real, _I wont let that happen, it can't be real. _As I kept watch I couldn't help but think if that dream could have possibly been real, if it was from the future, or if it meant something, "It's impossible" I told myself. I climbed higher in the tree I was thinking only of the new scrapes I was getting, for it being winter I wasn't very cold, my whole life my body has always been hot, my doctor always just sais I have a natural high body temp, which is cool. I could see our campfire still going Damien was in thought of something, while he probed the fire with a stick I looked around the perimeter. I looked around, and again saw the dim glow of our fire, and something else edging towards the campsite, obviously it wasn't Damien, It was some sort of silhouette, I carefully climbed down as to be quiet about it, and half way down I got an idea. I jumped to another tree. The figure looked to see where the sound came from, lucky me I was wearing my duster, and when I got to the ground the figure wasn't turned towards me anymore, it was looming towards Damien, my idea was simple; get close behind the figure and see their intentions. I picked up a small branch from the ground and tossed it not really knowing what would happen it made a sound in the snow off to the left that the figure, who stopped in their tracks, I crept over to them and managed to get really close. I could here their shallow breathing, my eyes made out the shape of a human being, and I took out my knife and quickly grabbed its arms, and pushed m knife carefully to the intruder's throat. "Who are you, and what are you doing here" I looked over to see Damien was asleep, should have figured that, "c-mon, tell me" I said silently in their ear.

"I'll tell you who I am if you let me go and make that fire larger" the figure didn't sound calm at all, they were trying to but I could here her voice quiver, I loosened my grip and took out a small rope and tied her hands together in front of her. I was having a hard time being rude when I knew it was a girl, but you can never be to sure.

"Ok tell me." I said, I brought her to a large log that was on the ground close to the fire. I had her stand up so that I could check for weapons.

"Umm is all this really necessary?" she asked as I felt up her thighs for any form of weapon. Still I didn't give her a reply. I took off my duster and my weapons and laid them on the ground, then patted her sides down to see if she had anymore, in total she had four weapons, two on her hips and two on her thighs. I set both of our weapons next to the sleeping Damien who muttered a few things. The fire started dyeing out so I grabbed a few things and started it back up, then pulled out another blanket that I gave to the girl.

The fire and the moonlight showed her, she was extremely dirty, like she'd been on the road longer than I had, and I wasn't even that dirty. Other that all the dirt and grime on her I could still make out her facial features; she had a upturned nose, a strong jaw line, and heavy eye lashes. She was, as most people would say kind of cute; she had a soft voice. "Okay look I'm sorry about being rude, it's just we've been pretty jumpy because of some things that have happened in the past week" I said being apologetic. I felt bad about almost killing her.

"I guess it's alright I should have just kept walking on the road, its just I've been traveling for quite some time as you can see," she pointed at all the dirt, "and um well I'm really hungry"

"We have chips and a few other things, I'll get you some," I said, and saw Damien wake up, "hey goat boy we have company, watch her while I get some things."  
>"Well you'd better hurry up." He said grumpily rubbing his eyes. I hurried to the tent and pulled out chips and dip and a soda, there were plenty of extra felled trees around. I packed more wood onto my arms and walked over to the fire, Damien had her laughing. He was good with jokes but sometimes he got very annoying; whenever he talked and went on a rant about how the government should be taking better care of the earth how the recourses we get are from her yatta-yatta-yatta, I figured it was a good thing he was making her comfortable after I nearly killed her, I laughed at the fact she couldn't see his legs because they were hidden under his blanket, I laughed to myself, than thought <em>better be careful, I don't wanna frighten them, <em>I had grabbed a few logs near our tent along with food_. _I did anyway, as I was about put down all the logs I had, Damien saw me and quickly grabbed out his sword, it made the girl flinch, "Really Damien, you're going to attack a fellow friend?" I said it laughing nervously.

"OH! Whew, you scared me Predicous, How are you carrying all that wood it must way a lot" Damien said.

"Actually yea it did but yeah never mind" I felt embarrassed. I made us all some cheese dip, along with the chips that I had. I let the chips heat a little above the fire. It was quiet for a while as we ate, we just sat there, I wanted to sleep but knew I couldn't, Damien was already asleep, and the girl just sat there staring into the night sky. "Well you know my name and you know Damien's name now, so what is your name?" I asked her breaking the silence.

"And why are you here" Damien chimed I making both of us jump at the sudden burst of words, he laughed quietly and blushed.

"Well umm, my name is Kerianna Kempten, and technically I turned sixteen a few days ago, but obviously there was no party, I've been on the run for who knows how long, running from things I wouldn't imagine you two would understand about. You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you anyway" she said it sounding embarrassed, sad, and like her moral was gone.

"Ok well first I think I'll just call you Keri, second—"

"Hold on Damien," I said to him while he was in mid sentence, "let me guess, you've been running from monsters and creatures of lore/myths, right and you think that they are very unreal, and that you wish dearly they weren't real?" I said it sounding cocky.

"Well uh yeah, actually?" I could tell by her expression how confused she was.

"What Predicous means Keri is that we've been running to somewhere trying to dodge many monsters, we've killed a few but they just keep coming." Damien shot in, before I could confuse her more. "But I need to talk to Predicous real quick so hold on." We walked over closer to my tent within eyesight of Keri not really knowing her intentions.

"Okay so you want to talk, what about?" I asked him, I figured it was going to be about Keri.

"She is a half-blood Predicous."

"Okay and what's your point." I said to him.

"My point is we should take her with us" he said it calmly enough that I started to understand what he was getting at so I acknowledged it and went over to her.

"Ok Damien and I, mostly Damien, think that you should accompany us to where we are heading, which is a sort of school that is supposed to help us, it'll take awhile though to get there."

"Predicous you gotta trust me on this I know she's one, I can sense it, so she doesn't get the choice, she must come with us." There was urgency in his voice, an urgency I knew that meant she must be something important.

"Well I'm fine with her coming, as long as I don't get killed in my sleep, however that just means she can help us, and we can help her, a group of three is always better than a group of two, specially since she's a half-blood" I took a look at her and she seemed confused as I was my first time. It was funny watching her expression as we stood there waiting for her answer, she'd look at Damien, at me, the ground, back at Damien and then back at the ground.

"Half-blood? Um right, I have no idea what that even is, is that like some sort of _Harry Potter_ thing or something?"

"I guess you could say that, I wouldn't think to much about it though if I were you, it'll just give you a headache, trust me, now I'm not a half-blood though if you're wondering about that, I'm what the Greeks call a satyr as you can see by my lower half…" Damien said and pointed down at his hooves and his goat fur.

"Damien is right, don't think to much of it all, because I've tried it many times and I just ugh, I hate it, but you see I'm not a half-blood or a goat boy, I'm well…I'm human I guess you'd say." I knew how she felt, it's the way I felt with Haven and then when I saw the hellhound, totally clueless.

"So you all want me to tag along with you to some place that you know is safe, with a bunch of 'half-bloods' and you still haven't explained what that is yet?" I could tell by the raise in her voice she was getting agitated.

"We will tell you on the way, see I know what it is because I read a book, but no more questions we need to get on the road, but yeah your coming with us" I said that while I started packing up all the things we had.

"Well ok then, either way, I've been alone for a while so I guess I should say thank you, I lived out in Kansas city for the longest time until recently," She was getting choked up about something so I decided to let her continue, "It's been a pain running away, with every step I take I can just feel the pain worsen, but yeah thanks, and umm well on the way you both better explain to me what a half-blood is or I'll just be a pain the whole way and nag you" she seemed to brighten up when she said that.

"Again yes we will tell you on the way maybe, and if my thoughts of it are right then you'll want to wait till we get closer to where were going, ha, and now that I think of it, I'm the only full mortal here, how awesome is that" I said cheerfully, trying to make light of the dark and gloomy evening.

"Umm actually Predicous, You have no mortality in you, I know what most mortals smell like but you don't have their smell, not really anyway, I can't place your scent, that's why I want you to meet a few of the people that work at the school" Damien sounded reluctant about it, so I didn't pester him further on the subject.

"Cool, anyway I can see gas station lights up ahead so we should stop there for a few brief moments." I changed the subject quickly. We walked towards the gas station that was pretty close, and looked around, I saw no other cars there except one simple diesel truck. The place was called Bulls-eye quick trip, I guessed it was some sort of country truck stop, the place had three wings is why I figured that's what it was. It was very large for being a gas station/ truck stop, I didn't like it, my gut was lurching from my stomach and I had a really giddy feeling. We walked in and the place looked empty besides a faint glow in another room. As the door shut it did a little ring, and I started getting even more nervous so I said. "We've seen enough, I don't want to rest here at all lets go, we can just go to a different place. I mean no one is even here and something doesn't feel… normal" I looked at Damien and I could tell he felt the same, we walked over to the door and went to open it, the door didn't budge, we tried again, nothing. I turned around when I heard heavy breathing it was a sound that always annoyed me, behind us stood an eight foot tall dude with one single eye, he was barely thirty feet from us. He stared at us at first, and then let out a loud bellow of laughter, we turned towards the other exit and ran for it, He didn't even try to stop us, and instead he kept booming with laughter. The door was locked we were stuck.

"Ha-ha-ha little ones, you mine, I get ta eat all of—you," he pointed at us, and then as fast as lightning my knife was out of it's sheathe and sailing towards the giant Cyclops, "Owe!," He screamed with agony as a bronze knife stuck out of his single eye, "my eye, oh my eye! It hurts, someone help me." I wasn't even the one who through the knife?

I had to think really fast, I jumped onto his knee as he brought it up, and launched myself in the air and took a hold of the hilt and brought it down and yanked it out, mid air I came down on his left foot as he went to kick whatever he thought he could hit. Damien and Keri were on the run and I was trailing behind them, the place seemed to grow larger, and the Cyclops had stopped yelling.

"Hey, look we can't split up, we need to stay together, ok?" I said trying to sound as calm as I could.

"There has got to be a back way out of here somewhere that isn't locked" Damien said, so we all took a left and stumbled down a flight of stairs. Literally stumbled, it hurt quite a bit.

Going down the stairs was a huge mistake because the Cyclops was already down there, how he wad down there I don't know, all I knew was he heard us coming, so he started feeling his way up to us. We ran as fast as we could around him and around corners that led to dead ends, to places that led in circles. That's when we realized this place was a maze and we had to figure out how to get out. "guys stay quiet, he's following the sound of our footsteps, and its obvious he can see but he can only see small blurs, my friend got stabbed in the eye one time by his girlfriend once when he broke up with her…ha, anyway keep quiet." I said to them with a low whisper. The Cyclops was tall enough that he could see over the walls that led to the exit. He started making his way, and so did we, we hoped we'd make it before him.

He managed to get in front of us and then he said, " I smell you little ones, and I get you" I realized he couldn't have been that old of a Cyclops, sure he was huge, but all Cyclops's are. His grammar was that of a child's.

"Okay we're going to follow him until we see an exit, or until one of us has a good idea" Damien said, Keri and I nodded our heads in agreement. Standing behind the Cyclops wasn't easy he smelt horrible, not like the hellhound, but more like puke, it was gross. As we kept walking and weaving around corners and every once in awhile hide close to him so he couldn't see us, we finally saw the opening, the Cyclops turned around looking for us, we hustled around him and made are way to the open door, we were out. As was the Cyclops.

We ran as soon as we were out, the smell of the outdoors was refreshing but we couldn't have time for smelling the air. The monster was behind us, and I couldn't tell what scared me more, either that he was following us, or that he kept tripping over small things so it gave us extra yardage. We went around the huge building until we could grab all of our stuff, and then we hurried up and bolted into the woods like rabbits running from a fox.

As soon as we hit the woods we ran into another beast, only this one was some sort of coyote, it had had one horn coming from its head and tusks like a boar, its head was coated with a black mane, and its back had spikes on it. The coyote's tail looked like barbed wire, the beast eyes were pure black and it had a deep growl coming from its throat.

I was not prepared for it at all, It leaped at me, with fangs bared, the thing almost got me until Damien came up and shoved it with his shoulder and tried to cut it, all that happened was the beast turned and ran away. "What the hell was that!" Keri cried out, completely overreacting.

"Hey Predicous, that's 5-2 now" he said to me smiling a dumb smile.

"Psh, whatever you didn't even kill it, it ran away, doesn't count" I cracked back with a smirk.

"You two are the weirdest people I've met, and trust me there are a lot of weird people I know." Keri said, laughing.

We all sat there and laughed, the day had changed a lot, it went from being in the morning to being nightfall, which confused us all until Damien said something about it.

"Okay you both need to know this, depending on where you are or how far under you are time will either be stopped, or it will resume its natural place, its like a dream, so you must be careful when you go into dungeons or mazes. Especially mazes those are extremely bad." None of us said anything the rest of the day instead we kept walking in the woods. Later we were out of the woods and saw a city, but I went ahead just incase to inspect another gas station, I was thankful because it was a On-The-Run trademark gas station, I laughed at the irony of the title. Keri and Damien came up and we each went in, bought stuff, fell asleep for abit, then walked onward. The walking started seeming kind of pointless to me as I knew I had plenty of money for us to just get a taxi or a bus so I decided for us to stop at another place. I insisted that they both stay outside while I get a taxi number or a bus stop address, but they came inside anyway, Keri went and used the bathroom, and later I found that she also washed off a lot of the grime that covered her. I felt a tap on my shoulder as I was going through the yellow pages of the stores yellow book (it's a type of book that contains many numbers of addresses, phones, business, etc).

"Hey." A voice behind me said.

"Whoa!" I nearly jumped, this beautiful girl stood in front of me, looking nervous and giddy, and happy, and her eyes…were the same as Keri's, "Keri?" I asked her.

"Well duh," she said and punched me in the arm, "why are you staring at me?"

"Uh—No reason I was just, I was looking at something behind you" I felt like a fool, I had no clue that she was gonna be that attractive. Keri's face was strong and prominent, high cheekbones guarded her face, she had soft features. I wanted dearly to touch her face to see if she was real, she wasn't even wearing makeup, it was to weird seeing her like that. I wished to God that she got dirty again. I bought us some extra snacks, and then called the nearest taxi, then went outside and waited with Damien while Keri looked at things. Damien was worse than I was, even though she still had some dirt on her, her face was really angelic, Damien's mouth was wide open. Finally after minutes of waiting I saw an orange taxi pull up next to a pump, it was a custom to help pay for the gas. I went to the counter inside and told the worker the pump number and gave them the money, when I saw the cab driver walking up. I quickly got Keri and we stopped the cab driver and asked if he was waiting for a group of 3, he said he was. We all walked up to his car and he sat down and reset the meter, which we were thankful for. "Where to kids" the driver asked as we piled into the cab.

"Well sir I don't know exactly where we are, so can you tell us?" I asked him.

"Lad, you are in, Ellsworth, Wisconsin." I was appalled, I had no idea that we traveled that far of a distance, it seemed we went really far in a short time.

"Wisconsin? That's impossible," I thought he felt the same way I did, but he grabbed out the map and let out a loud groan, "Predicous we've been going the complete wrong way, I've been holding the map the wrong way, ugh!" Damien exclaimed angrily.

"Where you all trying to get to?" the driver asked us.

"How far down can you take us, we can pay you half price right now and then the full price whenever we get there" I said avoiding his question. I didn't understand, I kept going with my gut and it just led us the wrong way, I wasn't to pleased with myself but I was sure Damien felt worse.

"Um well I guess I'll take you as far as Sparta, I gotta go there anyway, my aunt lives down there an her birthday is in a few days."

"Isn't that like Ancient Greece." I said confused.

"I guess? It's also a city here in Wisconsin" the taxi dude said back with slight laughter. I was taken aback by his statement then remembered that I lived in Troy, which was also and Ancient place. It was pretty cool that so many Ancient cities' still existed around the world that showed that some people still believed in the old stuff.

"Yeah. That's fine." I paid him the early tip and then we all packed in the back, I wanted to be able to talk to Damien and I didn't trust the driver's ear.

"Now you kids do understand, this will be a long drive, so were going to be stopping at places to eat and get supplies. So it'll be a nice three hour drive, but it's a good thing you called so early other wise it would have taken us till night fall the next day", I could tell he was being sarcastic. I nodded my head and paid him the money, I knew it was going to be a long ride, all of our stuff was packed in the trunk, surprise hit me as I knew that Sparta was a long way from here, sure this guy had to see his mom or whatever but to give us a ride all the way there, talk about a long way.

"Predicous" Damien dropped his voice to a whisper, "Sparta I've heard about it, stories and such, once we get there we should probably try and only stay for a short while, you know get out as soon as we can."

"That's fine, it's probably best we keep to ourselves anyway, no contact needed." I said to him, He sounded worried about the place, I wondered what stories he had heard but decided to keep to myself and ask him some other time.

The driver took a few wrong turns and had to correct himself a few times on the direction, he even took it as far as to call his mom. We whispered most of the way, and every once in awhile the driver would look back at us. We whispered for two reasons, one: Because Keri had fallen asleep shortly after we left, and two: we didn't want the taxi driver knowing or hearing any part of our conversations. We stopped a few times, either to get better directions or to eat some food, which the driver, even though he was scrawny, ate a lot of food, he even bought us food sometimes. I learned a few things from him whenever I'd sit up in the front, he loved street racing, him and his girlfriend had just broken up a day before the call, and he was always helping people. He always had this feeling that he was meant for something better, that the taxi job was just something for him to do until he found out who he was. I told him a few things about me, and he had asked why Keri, Damien, and I were on the road, all I said was its to long of a story even for a car ride. "You know even if you all were runaways, you can still trust me, I've seen and heard a lot of things, been in dealings, saw people get killed, I've been through a lot to." He said to me during one of our conversations, I knew I could trust him but the problem was, telling him the things that I knew could either get us thrown out of his car, or he would go crazy.

"I trust you man, its just I hate talking about it because then I have think about my home, and my friends, we are runaways but we have good reasons to be." We pulled into a restaurant for a late dinner, the traveling had actually taken us a full day to do, Keri was awake as the driver I and were talking and she kept pushing Damien's head off of her. We were on the last leg of car ride finally, really close to Sparta, Keri was asleep in the middle seat, Damien on the window, and me on the other side of Keri. I had the most uncomfortable position, Keri was in my lap, and Damien had us both squeezed against the other side together but Keri managed to find it comforting. I hadn't slept hardly at all besides when it was really late, we'd been on the road a full day and 45 minutes, and I had only a few hours total of sleep. I was surprised at how much sleep I had since I normally was always falling asleep during car rides, to pass the time I played with Keri's hair, after a few minutes I got bored of it and relaxed. "Even though we've been in the same car for who knows how long I still haven't asked you your name, so what's your name?"

"My name is Demetrius, I got this gig actually five years ago, and I'm only twenty four," he sounded ashamed, "Good way to waste my life right."

"Well I'll just call you Demetri, and I'm sorry for some of the inconvenience and timing of all of this we're just in a slight hurry" I said it trying to not sound nervous.

"Hey man its chill, I get late calls all the time, and odd jobs, as I've told you before, just never from kids, but as long as I'm getting paid, I'm good, and you all seem like a pretty respectful bunch, besides being dirty that is."

I nodded my head realizing how dirty we all must have been, and I acted like I was going to sleep, and I almost did until Damien startled me by muttering, "Freshly peeled Bananas, grass!, mmhmm!" his face made a hungry smile, and then he woke up and yelled, "Where are my hot dogs!" which that didn't make any sense so I just didn't respond to him, but I jumped when he yelled, and bumped Keri who was still in a deep slumber, she didn't even budge.

"Wow she's a heavy sleeper." I laughed, during a lot of the ride I'd notice things like shed talk, make faces, just a lot of weird things that I found amusing, I was gonna make fun of her but decided to be nice.

We entered the city, and I messed with Damien to try and wake him up, when my first plan failed I took a water bottle and trickled some on his face, He jumped up in his seat hitting his head on the ceiling, "I'm awake!"

I saw something cross the sky, it looked large, Demetri thought it was just a large bird, "hey Demetri can you just drop us off at the high school up here" I said anxious to get out.

"Yeah sure man, although I doubt it'll be open, but yeah sure." It was another few miles until we reached close to it. My hair was standing on end and it was raining, I knew plenty of tricks to getting into locked places, my dad…my dad had taught me how to pick locks, "incase I was locked out of the house by my sister again", I never knew I'd brake into a school though. Demetri dropped us off close to the doors; the school wasn't that much different from ours it had the same basic front. The driver got out and helped get our stuff out, he noted that I had an aluminum rod in the back, which he didn't see at first, I was glad how I had it made; it was able to retract and then from the push of a button go to its full length. I hoped he didn't see half the things that I pulled out from his view, I woke up Keri, and she was looking around sleepily as she saw where her head was, where I was sitting. Damien was stretching his limbs as he hopped out of the car. Demetri walked over and handed me a card on the back was a written number.

"If ever you need anything just call me, alright kid." Demetri said kindly. I looked around, being aware of our surroundings marking out all the exits of the school.  
>"Thanks Demetri, for everything." We all said to him as he sat down in his driver seat and drove off. I realized we hadn't even paid him the amount of money we were supposed to pay him, he didn't tell us to, maybe he just decided the tip was fine.<p>

"So—Is there a specific reason why we are at a high school, I mean its probably undoubtedly locked anyway." Said Damien annoyed at having to wake up.

"Exactly, you are correct," I said cheerfully and making myself sound cocky, I wasn't glad about what I was going to do but as Darwin said, 'The strong survive', "I need your help. We need to carry our bags towards the back entrance, and then I can pick the lock from there, so it'll go from locked to magically unlocked" I said again smiling. I knew I could pick the schools lock I'd done it many different times to other schools, like when I used to visit family in other towns/cities. As we walked to the back of the school I noticed that their track was bigger than ours, it made me jealous. We arrived at the back entrance and I had Damien get me out a flashlight, it was dark outside. I took out the tools I needed which were strong aluminum wires that I always used to hit the notches in the keyholes. It took me longer since I couldn't see as well but once I got all the notches up I had Keri twist the door handle, it opened, both of them didn't like that I was picking the lock. They called me a criminal and I'm sure Damien thought that that's what I was.

I hit the jackpot we were in the locker rooms of the school, I could tell because after I flipped on the lights a quick look showed me gym lockers and a office that belonged to the coaches. "You do understand that we're breaking an entering?" Damien said rudely.

I ignored him. "We can take showers and get cleaned up, and such I have clothes for all of us, not saying I have girl clothes ha, Keri I'll have to go to the town's store and get you shorts or Pajama bottoms or something." I looked at her and she nodded her head looking around the locker room, "I also have extra shower stuff. I always come prepared when I'm going somewhere, most of the time I'm over prepared, but I guess it's a good thing for this occasion." I threw Damien a shirt and an unopened bag of boxers along with shorts. Damien was about the same as me only taller, and slimmer, I was slightly more built in muscle then he was. Keri I had to just throw her one of my large shirts that I had which I never wore because well it was just to big, it was a large but it was longer on the bottom than most large shirts. I only had it so I could steal things from stores. Damien was on edge the whole time, we all just got out bed stuff and laid it down. We were gonna sleep next to each other just to be safe. "I'm going to the find the girls locker room so I can have more privacy for when Predicous gets back and just so I can think things through, I'm going to shave my legs first then I'm going to brush my teeth, after that…"

"That's very nice Keri, but we don't need details." Damien said laughing. I was already about to head out the door. She seemed nervous to.

"Am I the only one who isn't nervous, I mean c-mon chill out you guys." I said almost annoyed, yet, in a good mood. Keri decided to wait on her shower, she wrote in a notebook that I had given her when we got inside, I decided to take my shower before I went to the store in Sparta. The shower was exhilarating, the steamy hot water rushing down on my back, everywhere the hot water landed relaxed my tense muscles. I shampooed my hair and scrubbed my body with the body wash. I hadn't thought of much the past few weeks, and just sitting under the water had me thinking about the book that was in my possession, it was the one thing I wanted to see but was afraid of, the timing was off anyway to try and read it. _Oh no! What if Damien or Keri opens the bag that the book is in…I'll just have to wait and see._ I didn't like the idea of waiting so I rushed my shower. When I was out of it, I looked around for Keri; she wasn't there so I figured she must have gone into the girl's locker room to wash up. Damien was asleep. I waited for a few minutes to see if Keri would come back when she didn't I decided to go check on her, I grabbed my bronze knife and headed out of the room and towards the girl's locker room. I knocked on the door first since I didn't hear running water, I waited for a few minutes until I was about to walk back to the guys locker room. I stopped only five paces down and went back towards the girl's locker room and knocked again, no answer, there were plenty of different possibilities, she could have walked around the school just to take a look, or something happened to her. I walked inside very slowly. And to my Horror, saw something as grotesque as the monster toad, and as scary as the Cyclops. A strong hype was coursing through my brain giving me a lot of scenarios until I laid eyes on Keri, she was standing in front of the hideous monster. Only it was obvious she wasn't even finished with her shower, her hair was wet and she had shaving cream in certain spots on her legs, but she had on my huge shirt that went to the middle of her thighs; luckily the shirt was a navy blue. The sight of the monster petrified Keri, she looked at me for a brief moment, then back at her attacker a new glint of hope in her eyes. I moved to the side to get a better look at the creature standing before Keri, and well, it was not pretty. It was like a giant centipede only it had human hands, and a human face, fangs stuck out of its upper jaw and it had three eyes, its back and the rest of its body looked like a centipedes though. Talk about gross and scary. The ugly monster was holding Keri's mouth shut so she couldn't scream, the monster was facing a mirror talking in a weird language that I couldn't understand. I advanced toward it then looked at its tail, which swung freely, its tail had one single spike on the end. I slid my knife to Keri who managed to grab it, the monster didn't' even notice, and it didn't see me either. Suddenly I felt a pinch of courage, and even a stupidity that led me to a conclusion that would make the monster have to let go of Keri. I took Damien's sword out of where I had it, " Hey! You sick slime ball, get your hands off her!" I yelled sounding braver than I probably looked. The monster turned around quicker than I thought possible, nearly throwing Keri out of her grasp.

"Oh dear some action finally, bah this poor little creature didn't put up a good fight at all," the creature was female, "What are you going to do, hmm, cut me with that puny weapon, I've been trying to find some action however now I have more food" she said smiling, Her sharp teeth glistened with grime, I've found my dinner, and now a snack" she said in a shrill menacing voice that sent me chills. I looked around for anything that could help; I wasn't about to let that thing get either of us. It tossed Keri like a rag-doll, her head smacked against the wall and she was out for the count. I didn't really think after that. Running straight at the monster, the fiend swung its sharp spiked tail at me which I slid underneath, It went to hit me with its hands as I got closer to try and stab it, I dodged its flailing hands, and then it's tail came again. I jumped and sailed over its tail spinning in a 180 as the monster's hands tried to grab at me, I landed hard on the ground and was surprised when the tail came again. I grabbed on the spike, pulled myself up and got further up its back. I was sent flying into the air when it threw me off but somehow the air around me seemed to catch me and I slowly fell onto my feet without hitting the hard ground below. I looked around thinking something was amiss but everything was normal besides the gigantic centipede monster, which insisted on eating us. Her hand seemed to extend towards me and she swiped at me, I jumped, somehow almost hitting my head barely 3 feet from the ceiling. She caught me, and then I was thrown against the wall with enough force that it should have knocked me out like it did to Keri. She opened her mouth as if to say something when someone else suddenly spoke.

"Mistress Countiesa, you do understand if you do stop at once I will half to banish you from this world, yet again," The voice came from nowhere, sounded bored, and was just irritated. That's when it hit me, the voice was the same voice from my detention, "Not only have you disobeyed a direct law, but you've also injured Keri, I am very displeased with you, very displeased indeed." He flung the ugly thing into a nearby stall and then held her at the throat making her make choked out words in a different language until she said it in English.

"Lord of Darkness…Wha—what are you doing here," she stammered. I never thought something so huge and scary and gross could and would be so afraid of a mere shadow, she made a new face and sneered "You are breaking an oath by being here, so you do not have a real say in this, interfering is not aloud." She said and then slowly disappeared. Keri was still lying on the ground.

"Oh dear. I think I might have angered her again, ha-ha." The dark lord laughed, you could see his shadow or whatever you'd call it portraying on the wall.

"Okay, thanks to you creepy shadow dude I feel dumb, I'm not entirely in the best of moods, and I don't feel like being messed with, so who are you?" I was angry.

"Oh. Wow a temper ha-ha, that should be expected, well you should know by now who I am, and," he said pointing at Keri, " you should also know who she is."

"She's a half-blood, yeah so what's your point." I said smart mouthing him. I felt like I was talking to myself like I did back at the school. I knew being rude wasn't exactly the smartest thing in the book.

"Well you see, hmm how do I put this, well you can't tell anyone. Right now I have a block on all ears so that only you can here me, but she is… My granddaughter, I don't want her or anyone knowing because it could get her into a lot of trouble. And I've been mostly trying to help you all out, uh watch your backs, trying to keep most of monster's away some I could do it but some I couldn't, you and Keri cause a huge problem being together," the statement caught me off guard. "You see a half-blood has a very keen smell to them, to some monster's it stinks to others it smells good, and whatever it is you are well you attract even more."

"The books say you have complete control of how and where the Greek monsters go?" I said.

"That's only half true, but you see there's a lot of other things I have to deal with so I don't have time to try and put hellhounds on leashes or any of the sort." I stopped him mid sentence at the annoyance of having to talk to a shadow.

"You should come out of the darkness so I can respect you better because see I'm having a hard time, it seems as though I am talking to myself, only the other voice in the background is different. And how is Keri your granddaughter?" I said to him, "well never mind that question." I was confused, I wanted answers, but I didn't know how to get them.

"Look all the things you read in the books, well their not true, they are slightly true but things get twisted with books to make protagonists and antagonists, when really technically everyone is evil and good at the same time," He was using his hands making motions, It looked weird, "And it's alright boy, all you need to do is keep Keri safe for me, that's the only reason I led her to you, I know that they say I'm evil but I'm really not, honest. Now you need to turn around real quick don't ask why just do it." I turned around and looked at Keri who was still unconscious. Suddenly there was a bright light it was brief but it was extremely bright, and I could feel heat roll over me when the event happened. "You can turn around now," he said casually trying to make himself sound cool. I took in a breath as I turned around to look at the man in front of me. Standing there was an olive colored skin, six foot tall, flowing red hair, weird looking guy, a robe with many designs that looked like faces (seriously?) covered his body. He wore a ring that looked like it controlled something and then he had deep dark brown eyes that actually held emotion.

I knew who it was from the beginning, sure I've seen different things that weren't from the Greek myths but I knew him somehow. "Hades?" I questioned.

"HA! Yes indeed, ha-ha, my boy good job, and just so you know; names have power, therefore you can just call me dark lord, or lord of the darkness, or that petty little name you called me before, 'shadow'. I rather like it, it's a nice nick name, short and straight to the point," he said cheerfully. He liked to talk a lot, which was something you wouldn't expect from a scary guy, "Anyway I probably should get…" he didn't get to finish the sentence.

"WHAT IS GOING ON! WHO IS THAT!" It was Keri she was sitting up, eyes were furrowed and she looked pissed, she looked funny being all mad and wearing that shirt I gave her, it was a good thing it never flew up that wouldn't have been to great.

"Now, now, you just calm down, I saved your lives so just be thankful I didn't do worse young lady, and I was just about to leave before you uh woke" he actually sounded nervous but kept an air of control. I sat down and waited to see what would happen.

"How's about we all just not argue and get along, I'm calmed down and fighting doesn't really solve any problems if you think about it." I said trying to make the atmosphere less tense.

Hades laughed aloud, I realized this form he was in must not have been his actual form because it wasn't that scary. "You really don't seem like how you used to be, if its even you, I guess you've changed, you use to be all for fighting and well things." I looked at him quizzically, it was weird how he would talk to me like he knew me a long time ago, and it was annoying. "Well there's dead souls to collect, people to kill, judgments to make I'll leave you two." It was obvious he was nervous he left abruptly fast leaving Keri and I looking at each other, I could tell it was going to be a long night of explanations

"Keri I'll tell you what happened in the morning when we leave, until then finish your shower, and then just go to sleep, I'll be back later alright." I was blushing as I saw her in my shirt.

"Ok, whatever." Was all she said, I figured she didn't like anything that happened, after all it was my fault for her getting thrown into a wall.

_She'll get over it. _I thought to myself. I sat in the locker room for awhile longer trying to decide if I was going to steal or just buy the stuff I was going to get. Then I realized that I didn't know what size Keri was in jeans or any of that. I decided it was best to wait for her to get out of the shower. Almost ten minutes later she walked in and looked in the mirror, I saw a few tears drop from her face. She walked over and sat down in front of me and smiled. We sat there and talked for a few minutes about family and how we were both lucky to have found company, I stood up and grabbed an extra Wal-Mart bag that I had and put on my trench coat and normal school shoes. Keri stood up and walked over to the drawing pad I gave her and then I told her I was gonna walk around the school come back and then leave. I sat the trench coat and the bag back down and left the locker room. Walking around the school was awkward, it wasn't like my school, and the gym was quite the same. I found stairs that led up to another level, and while I was looking around I found a bulletin bored with pictures and a calendar, I kept scanning the bored and my eyes fell upon a picture of someone. Above the picture it said _Missing person_, I took a closer look at the sheet and there was a name written on the bottom. It was a guy Named Terry Triskosky, I turned on a light so I could see the picture and the sheet better, there was another sheet next to one with the picture it read _"Young Terry Triskosky, 11th grade. Lost during the month of October, last seen at the small town of Silex, Missouri. He's 5'7 with shaggy brown hair and steel gray eyes._ I looked at the picture and his eyes looked more like a blue color. A million thoughts ran through my head, like how did I not ever see him, he had to have traveled through Troy, and I was in Troy all the time, It looked like he had a good build it was hard to tell. He wore a necklace that made him look like a surfer. Something in that kid's eyes seemed familiar, I couldn't make it out but I knew something was strange, us being here in the school, and me seeing this picture had to have meant something. I decided it was time to get back to Keri and Damien and then leave. I quickly got down the stairs and thought about telling both of them (Keri and Damien) about what I saw but something made me keep my tongue from moving. I looked over to Damien who was asleep, and then at Keri who was awake and doodling on the sketchbook that I said she could use. She was drawing something that looked dark and gloomy; it was a cabin with some sort of symbol on it, and the way she used the color pencils I gave her. The moon in the picture was blood red, the sky was gray and black, and the cabin though glowed in a pure white and around the cabin stood four armed people. I wanted to tell her how cool and awesome it looked but decided to not bother her. There was a small lamp she used to help herself draw and see I wondered where she got it. I looked around the school one more time before I wanted to leave. I needed a slight motive first and I had to think. I looked for the schools computer lab which I let my tools help me to pick the lock, even though I found out about three seconds into picking it the door was already unlocked. I got on the farthest computer in the middle trying to stay from the windows and from the door. The computer hummed to life and seconds later did a loud beep which I was to familiar with; my dad always worked with computers, he was some type of audit genius, he could design the body's, and completely build a computer from scratch. I checked on a map on the computer that showed me the way, I knew since it'd be dark I'd probably make wrong turns but I was determined to find my way to the store.

_So much fun in barely a full week. _I was already tired and exhausted from the day's experiences but I wasn't going to stop walking just because I was tired. It felt different without being with Keri and Damien, sure I've only known them for a very short time, but it feels longer than that, the bond with all of us was strong, not something you'd find with _normal_ friends. Considering all that we've been through it'd be shocking if we weren't already best of friends. We were all quite different from one another and yet quite the same in many ways. I wasn't alone on this walk, every once in a while I'd feel a short chill go up my back, it might have been cold out but that didn't help how I felt that someone was watching me. I felt a different chill after the first one went away, it was like I was walking to something important it made me feel…giddy or like a little kid getting a new toy, I was anxious. Suddenly I looked around thinking Aldwin had come back; my protector, but all I saw was a faint glowing symbol, I walked past it, whatever it was it captured my complete interest. I trailed back to it and walked closer, it was some type of door, and to where it led I had no clue. I didn't have the time to try and find out, I kept having this feeling of mixed emotions, like they belonged to someone else. I was standing right in front of the door looking at the symbol that glowed, it was glowing a bright many colors, changing from gold, to blue, to orange, to green, etc. I had a sinking feeling that it meant something very important. I jogged the rest of the way weaving through the streets, through alleyways, and through fields. I was in the parking lot of the Wal-Mart Supercenter and well theirs was a lot bigger than ours, much, much bigger. A car almost hit me on the way up to the doors, the driver wasn't paying attention—they were texting, I jumped out of the way before they could manage to hit me how I jumped over the car I had no idea. I looked around and only one person saw me, it was a young boy that looked 10, he tugged on his dad's jacket saying something about superman, I hurried into the store. I walked around the store trying to get used to it, which was almost impossible because it was so big but also because the things that have happened to me, like being able to jump, over a car? What kind of dream was this, I didn't know how to feel, when I was young I watched _bat-man_ but I feel nothing like I wish I could, you'd think powers would make you feel…well like all kids want to feel, like a superhero... I wasn't going to steal much. I had plenty of money from selling my bike. I went to the girl's section to get Keri some things first. It took me awhile remembering her size. I picked up things I thought she'd need, even underwear, _yikes people must think I'm a creeper._ I thought to myself as a few girls that were browsing gave me looks, I wanted to talk to them but knew I looked without a doubt pretty scary even though I shaved my face. I went and got Damien some things along with two extra duffel bags, one for Damien, one for Keri; I got them both new shoes and then figured I was almost done. I walked over to the electronics part. With my all the things I had took in a shopping cart, I went and stopped near a restroom with my stuff and looked around, grabbed a camera, grabbed a SMD chip for the camera. I walked over to the bathroom I looked around and no one was at the counter, I knew the cameras weren't facing me when I took the stuff so I rushed and took the camera and the chip out of their original containers and stuffed them in the duffel bags. I walked out of the bathroom and then walked over to the games just to look. I tripped over some ones foot. I was about to say sorry but couldn't see the person's face, they had a hood over their eyes but I didn't think much of it since that's how I walked around, my hood however was down. "Sorry sir" I said quickly and stood up.

"Is they're anything specific you were looking for Predicurseus." Said the dude in the hood. My fingers went numb, and I felt even wearier than I had already. Whoever it was that said that name, knew me, He spoke a name that was just different. He had it directed at me when he said it, _Predicurseus_; I said it to myself under my breath. "You seem surprised, do you not remember me, do you not have the memories of your past life." He was taunting me, I was sure of it.

"Who are you, you don't know me, so don't talk like you do, I don't even know you, no clue whatsoever, and I don't want a long chat so make it quick I have to be gone from here." I told him looking at straight at him, I wanted him to raise his head and take off his hood but he did not. It made me nervous sitting under his gaze.

"Hmm. You are wrong, and you did know me…but I guess not anymore, you told me you'd be here before you were destroyed, you said a spell before that so you could be reincarnated." I was staring at him dumbly, "Let us walk, there's much you need to know, like who you really are." He raises his head before he was going to walk and I saw him- His eyes were a dark-blue; but it seemed like they glowed. His face looked a lot like an elf's would; the same slanted eyes, the sharp angular face, and tucked in his hood was veil of pitch black Hair.

"I know exactly who I am! I don't though know who you are!" I was getting extremely angry with this guy. The thought that this person who stood as a human being had un-human eyes that glowed was just creepy.

There became an unannounced humming sound and suddenly there was a bright flash of light in the corner of my eyes to the left of me, the creature guy noticed it to and said something that sounded nothing English the type of dialect was nothing I've ever heard of, "**Prosvér**! We must get moving to a more private area if I am to tell you what you must know." He grabbed my arm and dragged me to a different section of the store, again the language was completely different. Then again I only speak some Spanish, and I seem to be fluent in two other languages that we learned at school such as Dutch, and Swedish. The language I knew best was a language that I studied by myself, it was a language that was lost, found, then lost again, and then later supposedly a tribe of some sort found it again; The language was known to them as Kudérian. Prosvér sounded like a more modern version of it but I wasn't sure. I found it when I went to an old abandoned house. It was already torn up and looked more like a large cottage than a house. I was with friends when that all occurred, I saw parchments on the ground, they looked a lot like scrolls, you know things you would read about in books and stuff. there was the old English scrolls and the Kudérian scrolls laying on the ground. The scrolls were old and worn but the words and pictures and the dialect of both languages were very visible, they were in a container that was in a wooden box, I never showed or told anyone about either of those, in fact I still had those parchments. They were sitting under the book I received from Haven.

The small flashback didn't last long, I was being pulled into another area of the store, I tore from the creepy guy's strong grip, His eyes darted everywhere and then I saw that he was now watching someone. I went over to see where he was looking and then my eyes fell on someone who really stood out, they wore 80s style clothes, their eyes were a deep piercing grey. I wondered if anyone took things out of my cart but wasn't sure how to get away, a split second while the scary guy was watching the 80s guy, I slowly crept towards the other end of the section. I'm great at running from people, things, and well anyone who wants me. The scary guy kept calling my name and what he didn't know was the fact I'd ran passed him and back around to the section where my cart was, I ran into a shopper, she dropped some of the stuff that she had and I hurried and picked her things up, she was my height, with beautiful Chestnut colored hair and light blue eyes. She was very beautiful, but I knew the way I was in a hurry wouldn't last the way she looked at me for long, "Sorry ma'am." I quickly said. She was going to say something but I was already running. Standing next to my cart looking through my things was the built looking guy with the 80s clothes, they looked like 80s architect clothes I almost wanted to laugh. The man took off his hat and long golden hair fell down, kind of like he had it in a top-not or something, He raised a finger as I was about to open my mouth then pulled out the camera and fiddled with it.

"Ahhh young Predicous I've been looking forward to meeting you for sometime now, there's been a lot of chatter about you running about with Damien, I forget who told me? of course though being as busy as I am I couldn't quite fit this meeting into my schedule but certain matters have motivated me to come and see you." He turned around to face me and I felt like a little kid under his watch waiting for a lecture. "I've talked to a few of the gods about your, uh, slight situation I guess you can say. I'm Zeus, If you haven't already noticed." He stuck out his hand for me to shake it.

I let my thoughts take time, his hand still in the air waiting; very incautiously I chose my words. "Ok look sir, I don't really believe any of that crap, half the stuff doesn't make sense, I refuse to believe it, so what makes you think I'd believe your Zeus, or that one guy "Hades" is actually Hades," I was ranting but I didn't want to stop "things were completely normal until a few Fridays ago, I'm barely understanding what's going on, all I know and care about is the fact that right now its survival of the fittest and I'm doing my best to keep me and my partners alive, I am done playing games, so if you make the wrong move," I made a finger go across my neck, I lowered my voice, "I don't need some old looking guy saying he's Zeus." It was then obvious that I pissed him off, in our first conversation he looked calm and even in a good mood but now that I yelled at him his face was beat red, his eyes looked like the were getting darker, and there was a simple small vein popping from his forehead.

His voice was low and deliberate like he wanted to be calm but was having a hard time. "Look here you little ingrate, you obviously are unaware of your surroundings," I was about to interrupt him. "Every simple detail you know about human life is barely true, especially that stupid evolution theory that you mortals made up. All those clues that support it well are actually clues of your making, anyway, just about all you see is made by the gods or made for the gods, along with the titans their real to, everything is real. Certain myths you've maybe heard of to simple books, the myths and books actually explain twisted truths to fool the mortal mind so that they can't be harmed. Knowing more than you should easily makes it simple to see through the fog/mist whatever its called these days, and that means the monsters will be able to harm you." I could tell he was trying to tell me a lot of things so I could "understand" the basics of life.

"Ok stop where your at because you are just giving me a headache, nothing you say really makes any sense, and if gods are real then what about God (Jehovah, Yahweh, Allah…), and Satan (Lucifer, The Devil, Lord of Hell…) what about them?" I was challenging him to continue his tirade of the real world.

"That's all mixed in with the gods, it's a really hard story to actually explain, which can be explained my someone else hence that I must leave very soon, I didn't come here to teach you merely to be mocked."

"Ok then what's the point."

"The point is young Predicous, I came here to meet you, however how you are acting is a horrible first impression, in fact, there were important things I wanted to tell you but no longer will I sit here and squabble with you..."

"Well you haven't exactly made a very good first impression on me either, 'in fact' The type of approach you made was not an approach you'd be dong to someone you don't know, now I, must get going. I have friends to attend to before they wake up, I don't want them to worry that I'm gone, so if you'll excuse me—"

"Predicous you must understand why I am really here," He made a face at something on his wrist, it was doing a steady beeping noise, "I'll have to tell you later if I ever get the chance certain matters must be attended to at the moment, but I will tell you, you are not a mortal, your not who you think you are." Zeus said and then walked out the doors and suddenly a burst of lightning shot down from the window above which shattered the glass, and he disappeared. So skeptical, that's how it always is with everyone these days always talking about things that don't make sense, and not only that don't even give a real explanation they just keep building on thing hat don't make sense, It gets pretty annoying. I want things to be straightened out, I want all of my questions answered like, who are the "gods" how do they know me, why do they interfere with my plans, who was the guy with the glowing icy-blue eyes, and how do all these people know me. I was going to have all those questions answered one way or another but I needed to get going and buy the things I had in my cart. The girl I had run into was sitting on the bench across from the checkout line I was in. She was looking up. The Wal-Mart here in Sparta was quite a bit different from the one in Troy, the place was like a Wal-Mart and a half, It wasn't small, and on some parts it had windows in the ceilings, the place was practically opposite of what ours was. Anyway, the girl I'd run into looked up and looked like she was scared, to scared to move. I looked up to see what she was looking at, even in the dark I could still make out a shape, it looked like a gargoyle or a giant bat. I checked out and walked to one side of the store and saw that the creepy guy that had the glowing eyes was scowling at the bat thing. I had a sinking feeling both would follow me, I was in a very bad situation, a situation where I didn't want to be.

Thinking fast I slowly started an idea, sure it was risky but it would throw both of the freaks off balance and off my track, I went to the cologne section and grabbed the one that smelt the best; I had the opinion of some girl looking at perfume. I went to the restroom and even though it was late there were a few people in there, I took off my duster and my hoodie and sprayed myself down with the cologne, then I put the hoodie back on and sprayed that down. I stuffed my duster inside of the duffel bag I had for Damien. The creepy guy was standing in a different spot looking around frantically, people kept giving him looks, but probably thought he was just wearing color contacts. I walked out with some guy that I found out his name was Jonah, he was an older man with a well shaven face.

The blue eye guy didn't notice me, I then walked over to a group of people who were standing by the fire alarm, I was glad I had not had a haircut in a while, I pulled the alarm. People were running around scattering like rats running from a cat or bird, no one was even trying to be nice, I wondered if it was going to look this chaotic during the rapture of Christ. I walked to an older lady who was obviously in her 60s and I helped her get her bags, followed her out helped her load up and then saw the eyes of the creature that so resembled a gargoyle, I started feeling sad and down, depressed is the correct term for both. I had a hat on to hide my hair. I was beginning to get cold so I knew I was going to need to get my blood going, I ran.

Running was probably the worst decision I'd made that day, the gargoyle thing shrieked and my ears went numb along with my whole body, I tripped. I looked up and the clouds uncovered the moon, it was full and exuberant, it radiated plenty of light. Feeling around me the numbness was going away faster, looking behind me things seemed clearer, more detailed, and even lighter. See normally I have really bad eyesight—I wear glasses, there in my one of my bags, but this was not contacts that helped my eyes, I could see perfect, more than perfect. I could see the gargoyle sniffing the air trying to zero in on me better. It shrieked again but shorter and then charged for me, I felt more strength surging through me, I ran like I've never ran before dodging branches, rolling under things, and then I jumped, I didn't know why, I just felt like doing it. Bad idea again, I jumped high above the branches and was still in the air until I hit a branch it sent me tumbling in the air and other branches guarded the way to the ground. I landed on my feet and kept running, I felt no pain, not in my legs, and not from when I hit those branches. I could see the shed with glowing light, the door that I had no idea where it led. I was about to go inside of it however I was still being chased but a voice that sounded almost like mine said _It isn't time, not yet, let time move on until you must see what was._

Listening to the voice I raced back to the school it took less time than I thought it would, feeling that new strength within me it helped me to get as far as I would normally. There in a short 20 yards was the school, I had to remember what door we used to get in and when I found it I was able to see the lock on it better than I had when we first arrived here. That was the first full moon of the month, it led into January, time was going by to fast almost to my birthday, I decided to let everyone sleep and then I'd sleep.

Laying there on one of the wrestling mats with my blanket wrapped around me I couldn't stop thinking about the days events; what Zeus had said and what the hooded guy had said it bugged me for plenty of reasons, I was missing the old days. Things were definitely changing, I was changing; I could feel it, every thing in me screamed to reach the top, my anger flared easier, I could do things that well, that weren't normal. Taking out my journal I felt bad, it'd been a while since I last written in it. I couldn't remember the date, something I'd been forgetting all the time (no pun intended), in fact I hadn't even looked at my watch that was deep within one of my duffel bags.

I was unsure of what to write so I began to draw things, I always draw with my eyes shut if I'm trying to draw from memory, I only open my eyes to look at the drawing to adjust things, I drew the huge frog thing along with it's little offspring, I drew the Cyclops eye, and I drew a few other things. I waited a few more minutes until I started to draw again but this time I didn't look. My hand had its own personality moving wherever it wanted, I could feel my hand moving with the pencil, the many lines and curves forming under each stroke of lead; I let that keep going for almost another hour until I passed out.

Damien was the first one to wake up, sure Keri woke up once or twice but she never actually got up. "Hey wake up." He shook my shoulder. I laid there with my eyes shut but I was actually awake, Damien kept shaking my shoulder… "Boo!" I yelled nearly making him jump in the air.

"Well that was just rude," he pouted "get up its 7:30."

"Wait," I said, I could tell he thought I was about to say sorry, to bad for him I wasn't, "I got you and Keri some things." I stood up and threw the things from Wal-Mart at them, which they both caught with a surprised expression.

I rummaged through my bags making sure all of my stuff was still in the same spot, I remembered my fear that they might have looked through the bags, but luckily they didn't. "Hey I think we should grab a train, we'll have it take us as far as it can go then we'll get a few bus's, and then after that we'll have to walk the rest of the way and then get a boat," Damien said, "I've only been here twice and both times I hated it, so I don't want to waste more time than we have to." Keri and I both just nodded our heads.

I had no clue where the nearest train station was so I was going to leave all of the main details to Damien. Keri and I were both on high hopes that we weren't going the wrong way. We ended up walking to another town that was close to Sparta and got directions for someone who worked at a gas station. Not once did we use the map that Damien had so I had to ask him, "Damien how come we haven't been using your map?"

He looked down at his feet then around him, "I lost it, I think I had left it in the car of the taxi driver."

"Your kidding right?" I said.

"You had better be kidding because I hate going the wrong way!" Keri yelled.

"Hey, hey don't worry we can get a knew one somewhere, like up there there's a small store." He pointed at a store that was on a strip.

I had them stay inside where they wouldn't be noticed, I looked around for a map, and once I found one, well my brain did a 360, we didn't go down like we were supposed to have been doing, we were going more towards Minnesota. I walked over to Damien and pointed at the map I had with a furious look, "Umm" was all he said to me. After we got some things there at the store I used the restroom and walked out. Outside some biker dude was sitting on his motorcycle looking at us, and then he turned around and drove down the road to what looked like a library that's where we needed to go.

My idea was we could go to the library since all libraries have computers, we could use one in the library that way we could use to print the map to where we needed to go out. Damien remembered the spot where we had to get the boat. It was a pretty simple plan, which didn't include any arguing with anyone, so I thought.

The library wasn't that big, maybe the same size as the one in Troy, maybe a little bit bigger. Standing in front of the doors to the library was that tall biker dude and now that I had a better look at him well, the guy was tall, maroon colored hair, he looked kind of like a gothic person. He had really cool looking Aviators (Sunglasses), but still he looked like any normal gothic-biker dude. I was about to walk in and then he stepped in my way, it annoyed me, I tried going to the other door, he blocked that way to. It was easy to tell he was looking for a fight, I was going to have to keep my cool and talk my way out of that, "excuse me sir".

"You're excused kid." The biker dude said back and grinned at me ruefully.

I could feel my anger rising to the top,, and suddenly I felt it get heightened to an uncontrollable level, I wanted to hit someone, and this someone who was in front of me was causing this issue, "Look Mr., I am not here for slight games, alright, I need to check something , so what's your deal, just move." I felt my anger rising even more. Damien looked at the guy in a confused expression, Keri just looked from me to the Biker dude I guess hoping we didn't fight.

"Well I'm just standing in your way because you should be able to move me yourself, and also you don't need to be at a library, just follow your instincts kid," He grabbed a newspaper from out of nowhere.

"Look, I already don't like you and first impressions are really important so who are you, and what do you want!"

"Oh how rude I must say, and if you must know who I am, you may refer to me as God of Hatred, War, Corruption, or just Ares will do fine. What I want, was to see if the rumors were true, see Zeus doesn't know what you are, neither does half the Olympian council but five us do know who you are, like Hades for instance, and then me. I know you quite well, I've heard a lot, and I figured I'd come down and see the guy I looked up to even though I wasn't really around then but still."

"Yeah so I have no clue what you talking about, so you can just step aside and let me and my friends pass, but again I have no clue what your talking about I wasn't born a whole bunch of centuries ago. I was born like fifteen years ago, in fact my birthday is coming up quite soon, so I would like to check something and get it over with." I said flatly.

"You've got to be pulling my ear or are you actually being serious?"

I sighed, "the phrase is 'pulling my leg', and I'm dead serious. You can highly believe, and look all we need to really do is figure out where the train station is."

"Well I can tell you have the temper they talked about, and the looks almost but you don't have the same exact personality, reincarnation is a weird thing I guess." He walked over to his bike and then as soon as he started it he vanished in black smoke.

From reading all the books I've read about Ares I really didn't like him, he seemed a cool ally though so I was glad I didn't try fighting him. "So—why are we here?" Damien questioned.

"We are here because you lost the map, kidding, we're here because we need to find the nearest train station, we need a new map, and I want to know how long the rest of this whatever you'd call it will last." He seemed to understand after I said all that.

I got on the search engine called Bing, I clicked on the maps link and put in out the directions. I also looked at the date, I was on the road a very long time indeed.

Keri was looking over my shoulder, "Umm Damien, its gonna take us awhile." She said

The map I printed out was easy to read, I knew where we were, I knew how to get to the train, and I also found out that if we get a taxi after the train it'd be cheaper then a bus, and faster. I wrote down the time that I estimated it would take us to get close to where we needed to be, 23 days 3 hours, which gave me twenty days till my birthday. Knowing that I'd be in a safe place during my birthday I was put in a much better mood. My birthday was **February** **14th**. We still had plenty of money left, and I had found the quickest way to get to the train station. With the map printed out, the estimated date that we'd get to where we needed to be, our bags, and a determination to be safe, we walked all the way to the train station.

The walk to the Train station was long, every step we expected something to pop out at us. Once we even spotted a few deer running around in the woods, only thing was these deer weren't normal. The most annoying part of the walk to the train station was the fact that the ground was completely covered in snow, our shoes kept getting saturated and we had to stop to change socks. Several small stores were around us, and we were thinking about camping out next to one when our eyes came upon what we were trying to get to. I couldn't help but think how lucky we were, how none of the monsters had tried attacking us, we saw plenty, but they all seemed to just stay away. The beasts of the woods weren't afraid of us, but of something else.

The Train that we had to get on was about to leave, sure there were other trains but this one was going the direction we needed. We sprinted with all of our bags heading towards the place where you give the person selling the tickets your money, after that we had to run down the escalators. Well I jumped on the railing and just slid down, as did Keri, after we reached the bottom we arrived at the turn styles where we just hopped over that without a problem and then boarded the train.

As everyone knows it is very uncommon for a small group of 'kids' to be traveling alone with no adults, also on that note, I was getting scruffy in the face, Keri actually looked the best of all of us. Damien had a weird beanie hat on, and he looked really nerdy, so we got a lot of looks from people, and all those looks seemed to be getting to Damien. Now listen Damien isn't that tall, isn't that outgoing, and he has a sort of English-British accent, he looks nowhere close to being an Intimidating kind of person. He has the nerdy look like I said. He has sandy blonde hair, and dark green eyes. As the people kept staring Damien seemed to be gnawing on a piece of the seat that was in front of us.

After about fifteen minutes of the people staring he finally lost it, "OK! Stop staring at us alright we've done nothing wrong, just turn you puny heads around back to your pathetic excuse for news" he was raged, angered beyond extreme, I thought it was rather funny so of course I tried stifling a laugh. The people all turned their heads, even some of the gangster looking people turned around, it was interesting hearing Damien yell, you would have figured someone would have like, pummeled him for being so rude but nothing happened. Keri was sitting against the window, this was pretty much the only time that we could all actually have a chill point of safety. From the reflection of the window and where I was sitting I watched as a tear rolled down her cheek, she was obviously deep in thought about something very important, and very sad. I wasn't sure whether to try and comfort her or let her find her own peace, but knowing my personality I wasn't about to let her do it herself. Damien didn't see her silent crying, the fact that she was turned away from us to him meant that she wanted to be left alone.

"Hey, I'm going to try and snag us all some food off the train workers, and some beverages maybe I can give them some money for extra stuff." Damien said and walked off leaving Keri and I just sitting there. I moved into a different seat, one that was empty, and I decided to try and go to sleep, I was going to talk to Keri later about what was wrong with her.

The sleeping didn't work, my thoughts trailed over to my family and friends at home, I was wondering what they were all doing, even my dad, I wondered how they faired without me, I laughed at the thought of that. And then suddenly it hit me, she missed her family as much as I missed mine, I knew I had to cheer her up. Checking to see if she was asleep, I sat next to her, I wanted to try to put her in a better, cheerful mood for the both of us. Negative atmospheres have always made me feel very uneasy, ready to fight, and just sad.

"hey, you look a little down, are you alright?" I asked her, for a little bit nothing happened then she turned her head and stared at me for awhile. The silence was horrible, I wondered when Damien was going to come back or what was going on until finally Keri spoke.

"It's really nothing, I just miss my parents and my little sister," she turned her head back at the window and I thought she didn't want to say anymore, "You know—I left because I didn't want my family getting hurt. I didn't want my little sister to be harmed all because there is something extremely wrong with me," she turned and faced me again, "I hate it, whatever it is that made me like this I hate it!" Tears filled her eyes.

I started feeling even worse but I learned from my grandfather that its always better to get something out then keep thinking about it, hate, sadness, anger, even greed fill up inside and then can be overwhelming. I hugged her close, "Keri none of the things are your fault, I understand how you feel, well kind of anyway," I pull away so she could see my face, "I miss my family to, ever since I ran away their all I really think about, and it pains me to know that they probably think I'm dead, don't beat yourself up about what's happened. Soon enough you'll be able to see them again, and hug them, and give them kisses, cheer up Chika everything will be fine you just have to give it some time."

"Predicous—I know I haven't known you and Damien that long but your both amazing friends, loyal, smart, cunning, annoying, and even cute," she blushed a little, "I guess you can say I'm lucky to have met you guys, but I still ever so much miss my family...The Reason I ran, the reason I'm here is because I'm so set on killing all the monsters I see, I want them world to be rid of them, they kill without mercy and take pleasure in it. They've been tormenting me since I was little, my parents always had to move, and well the monsters killed my older sister all because she tried to protect me, she could see them unlike my parents or anyone else who was around us. She was turning 19, her whole life in front of her, and just like that she was gone, after that I ran and ran, only stopping when I needed to. I only thought of food, drinks, my family, and survival. I won't let them get my little sister, I knew that if I ran they'd follow me," I was wondering how she was able to save herself so much then, "and then when I met you and Damien," she smiled, "I thought you were both like hobos or something, ha-ha, I never thought I'd find anyone quite like you two." She laughed softly.

I was quite happy that I made her laugh, she wasn't really crying anymore, sure she was still a bit sad but she was in a better mood. Damien walked up with a trey of food, and we all split some of it.

"Hey I have a question." Someone young said, they were sitting two seats behind us, I hadn't noticed him at all, and the fact that a lot of the people that were on the train were gone was unsettling.

I looked at him with a surprised expression, "Umm yeah sure, ask away kid." I said trying to think what he was going to say. I looked at him more closely to see what he looked like, He had dark brown shaggy hair and a strip of his hair was blue. He walked over to us and well looked skinny, and hungry I guessed what he was about to ask.

"Do you have some food you could maybe share." He looked ashamed.

Damien piped up right away with a grape part sticking on his lip, "Yeah sure sit with us we can share."

"OOOOh! Thank you so much!" the kid said obviously happy with our answer.

We all ate in silence, which was almost boring, except that whenever Damien ate he always made a noise that sounded like a cricket, anyway, we all laughed at him. I began to understand why Damien had the kid sit with us; he was what Keri was, a half-blood. The kid sat on the seat next to us after one of the people got out of it, he talked about a lot of things, and some didn't make sense.

"Hey what's your name kid?" I asked him voicing what I knew Damien and Keri must have been thinking.

"Oh yeah sorry, I'm Dominic." He said.

"Alright, well Dom, how long are you riding this for?" I asked him.

"Till I feel like getting off." He said and then turned around, laid his head against the window and let himself go to sleep. We all fell asleep shortly after Dom did and I dreamed the same dream, however it seemed like something about it had changed.

I was standing in front of the same Mirror as in my other dreams but my armor was different, I looked kind of different; My armor was different, I looked less worn out, I didn't have the rod/staff just the two swords that were strapped to my hips. My eyes were a fierce blue, my expression was haughty and I was sad. I walked out of a sliding door out into the open area.

My dream stopped. I woke up sweating, and confused. Around me people were crammed next to each other sitting on seats, I was in a train, I realized that it was late and looked around again and noticed Keri, Dom, and Damien, they were all still asleep. Slowly I walked around the train to stretch my legs and when I got back to our spot Damien and Dom were playing a game of cards, Keri sat in my seat and was looking at something off in the distance outside the train.

"Damien you should explain more about the School." I said taking him by surprise.

He looked at me and then motioned for me to follow him. we walked over to the other side of the train out of earshot. "So you do know that he's a half-blood then?"

"Well it's pretty easy to guess, and I seem to be able to smell things better than I used to, I don't know what is going on with me but it's changing me."

"Could just be that you're getting used to things happening the way they do ha," he looked out a window. there was something he wasn't telling me. "We need to convince Dominic to stay with us." He said.

We walked back towards Keri and Dom, "So…" Keri was in mid-sentence when we walked up.

"Dom how would you feel about traveling with us?" I asked him, I chose to just cut straight to the point.

"Like what do you mean?"

"Were all going somewhere, Damien, Keri, and I. Well I'm wondering if you'd like to accompany us to where were going, Damien that means explaining for Dom." I said.

Looking over at Keri I could she felt bad for him, not because he was gonna be with us, that was probably a good idea, but the fact that he was on the road just like us. "Dom, you can trust us, you're not the only one on the road right now, and well you should come with us." She said.

"You really should come with us." Damien said, but I knew it was more like a must. Dom didn't know what to really say to us I could tell he was tongue tied for words.

"Damien first you should explain that safe place to Dom, don't reveal to much information to him, but enough information that he'll come with us, and plus maybe since we have plenty of time on this train until we get to safe place you could just explain more to us."

"Well, I didn't really have time to explain a lot to you and Keri if you think about it, we're always on the move and I was going to talk to you and Clair about when we ate but a newbie came up, but I know that he's supposed to be with us, he's a lot like Keri, his scent isn't as strong but that could be how young he is, but alright," Damien sat down next to Dom and Keri sat next to me, "The School, that's what it pretty much is Dom, but the School is completely and totally safe for any half-bloods or in other words 'Demi-gods', it's also a safe place for any, magical, and anything with good intentions or other magical beings who seek out a safe haven of good. Nothing bad can get in unless someone summons it or something like that happens." Damien paused and looked outside at the snow on the ground, "The Human/mortal eye cannot see the school, some have managed to wander there though, the director of the school world just put them to sleep and erase whatever it was that they saw so they thought they had a dream or something. There are walls that go around the huge campus of the school, kind of like a castle, there's training as much as there are school work, the training depending on your age and size can be vigorous, and fun, There are all kinds of activities, but really it's like any normal school except the breaks you get and training for many different things, so yes you learn math things, English things, science things, there's different math, English and science courses but those are just for the graduation like any normal school."

"So basically you want me to go back to school?" Dom asked.

"Yes and no, the normal school have a lot of extra things, all you need to do is take the courses you need to graduate in your 'senior year'. You only spend maybe 5 hours total for your classes but your training takes up most of everything."

Damien kept talking about the school but I really started to not listen, my eyes were shut and I was drawing which I didn't even know I was except that Keri asked, "what are you drawing. I've been listening to Damien and watching you draw, sketch whatever you'd want to call it." I hadn't even known I was drawing really, I'm great at drawing and pretty much any artistic thing, but this was almost the fifth time that I've drawn with my eyes shut, "I've been watching you because well you've been drawing with your eyes closed yet your hand moved like it knew what it was doing."

I opened my eyes and first looked outside, it was dark almost a gloomy look to it, the moon in the sky was a crescent moon. Then I looked down at my drawing, it looked a lot like my dream; things were laid out around me, there was a lot of shading done in the drawing. It was a battle field, the drawing must have been farther ahead than my dreams though, it showed a lot of people in armor fighting, creatures were there, and other people. Most of all the background of the drawing had missing spots like they were on purpose, I held the drawing farther away from me, the background resembled something of a face, it had a sneering look on it, and then I looked at the horizon line farther up and in the middle of the sketch; two people, one in ancient Greek battle armor with a long Broadsword and a shield, the other person had a staff on his back and two wicked swords in his hands, whoever had the swords looked a lot like me, whoever was fighting though must have been a friend or something because in the drawing there was a single tear in one of my eyes, sure this drawing was black and white but it showed a lot of detail, like you could tell it was raining for one, and if this drawing had color it wouldn't look near as amazing. Turning thing sketchbook in my hands I noticed something written at the bottom of the paper I figured it must have been my signature it wasn't. The look on Keri's face was utter confusion and an astonished expression.

I knew exactly what the writing said, I knew though it wasn't written in English and I wasn't about to let anyone know what it said, maybe some other time I'd explain. "Keri I don't even know, I'm just really good at drawing like that, it helps me because I can see what I'm doing yet I can't, it's hard to explain, I'll just teach you sometime." I tried showing as little emotion as I could. There was a small feeling in my stomach that my dreams and the sketch both meant something was going to happen, so I made the decision to keep the drawing this time.

They were all asleep, Keri, Dom, and Damien, My head was lying on the headrest of the chair I was in and Keri's head was on my shoulder. I moved her head to the armrest and moved her legs in a better position in the seat so shed be comfortable. Looking around in my bags I pulled out what I was intending on getting, why was I so good at drawing with my eyes closed, or my dreams what was the meaning of them, during the time in Sparta how was I able to jump as high as I did. All that would have answers to my questions I knew what it was. Sitting in the seat next to mine and Keri's I looked at the book lying out in front of me, "Well I've had this old thing this long, might as well be a man and just open it, it can't be that bad it's just a book." I said quietly under my breath, I took out the key that belonged to the book and twisted it in my hand prolonging the moment.

It began to rain outside, making it colder. The train even seemed to grow cold like all the heat was sucked away. I unlocked the book but noticed an inscription etched into the soft leather, it was a completely different language than English but it was the same language that was on my paper, coincidence? Nope. I read what it said after a total minute of looking at it, "Time: Power and Creation." The way it was written looked to be like it was Greek, but this was way more ancient than that. I opened the book and saw more of the writing, the papers were hard like rock but writing was easily visible on them, the first page on there was different than the rest it was more like an extremely large-papery-feeling leaf. A bunch of the back pages were like that to, but most of the book was filled with the hard rock like pages. The first page read.

"Look if you are reading this or me or however this is then I must surely be reincarnated to you, Predicurseus, your name could be changed but I highly doubt that. I'm sure you are confused and have a lot of questions all, which I will answer in person with you. There is a place that I built before I died, only you can go, we are not the same people my mistakes are not yours. Your looks will barely be like mine, you'll have a lot of my personality in you along with my powers, whoever else you are, will be you. People think reincarnation makes you the same as the other person, or you'll be a flower or animal, it all depends on the wording of the spell, like I said only part of me resides in you, the part that makes us who we are…The Nyphilim. I have more things explained in the book that you have now, these pages contain spells and they contain our history, I may have been dead before the extra pages were inserted so either I put these in or someone I held dear to me did, but listen carefully, this book has magic, sorcery, powers, things you may not yet understand, Things I've had centuries to learn. There are probably more books of our kind but a lot of them were either burned or destroyed, I can only explain more things once I see you however you can read more of this book to learn what you need, just learn what you can, Oh and I am not sure if I can take you to the times but you must understand once you walk in through that door you'll be in a neutral world created by me. It is only able to house you and I, you'll be taking from there with me to our past. My goal in all of this is to save the world from its inevitable destruction, I'm hoping also to save our race even though I am sure the events that have occurred have already ruined it. I'm unable to keep on writing after this page, so farewell my brother until a new day. Before I go though, you might discover some transformations depending on your birthday, I don't know how it work but you'll look more like me when you're finished and other things will happen, again goodbye."

The writing stopped, there was plenty more writing but it wasn't in the same handwriting, same glyphs but different type of style. Re-reading what that guy Predicurseus had said and I was having different things going on with me, but there were still many questions. I didn't really feel like reading anymore. I stashed the book back in its hiding place, underneath a bunch of my clothes in my large duffel bag. I sat there wondering what I should do, I knew sleep was needed, I knew I was basically safe. My dream took me, It restarted from the beginning, me wearing the armor with all the other stuff from the first time had the dream. I was getting tired of the same dream over and over again, the only difference in my dream was I was able to control myself better since I knew what was going to happen. There was a window that I looked out of, a full moon showed its face, I looked at the mirror and my eyes seemed to flicker, from a bright blue to a pure white color. Grabbing all the stuff that I remembered myself grabbing in the dream I started walking out. Suddenly I could hear the yelling of the outside, Damien, I knew was about to die, I sprinted through the doors as fast as I could, I knew consciously that I was slightly ahead of time. Bursting through the door I was closing on Damien, I was almost in time to help him. I was thrown off my feet by somebody, falling to the ground I felt a knife in my side, I could barely feel it. Rage was building inside of me, power. The surge of anger and power compelled me and I yelled something not from any language I've heard. Rain was falling heavily on everyone, my eyes were on my attacker, I could feel hate building inside of me, a spear stuck out of the back of Damien, I was to late. My swords appeared in my hands way to fast for any normal human to do. I was faced with someone close to my age, wearing armor with an emblem of something. No longer could I control myself, we engaged in a severe combat of blows and parries, I kicked my pursuer in the chest and as he tumbled to the ground, only to get back up…he was to late. I was high in the air before he got up, my swords did a quick X and I could feel them pass cleanly through the kids neck. The body that once held a head so young, a body that was not much my age, fell to the ground. Grief filled my emotions, and I couldn't help but know that I just killed someone who has a family. I closed his eyes and said a simple prayer in that weird language. Looking where the knife still stuck in my side it pulled itself out by some unseen force, almost as if I was doing it without touching it, I felt extreme pain and before the blade fell I caught it. The blade was green, the hilt was of a weird make, and my blood dripped from the sides of the blade. I felt dizzy, confused, and the last thing I saw before I fell to the ground was the green glow of the blade, that blade was meant for me. I clutched it and saw some people surround me, the medics of the school, I laughed to myself and felt the unconscious surround me."For all gods sake Predicous, will you wake up!" Damien yelled, he looked nervous. Food was in front of my face, looking around me I saw that we were in a restaurant, It looked like Denny's."Well thanks for waking me?" I said, "How long was I out?""Well basically the rest of the ride. Lets see, in total you were asleep for a full day in a few hours. I was going to wake you up but…I didn't want to ruin your dream, it seemed important" Damien said to me."Important," I looked at Damien with a sorrowful expression, "ugh yeah right, I hate my dreams, I haven't had a single good dream in forever." I said while rubbing the back of my neck. Pancakes were laid out in front of me, so I ate some bites and noticed that Keri was not with us, I wondered where she was. It was awkwardly quiet so I spoke up mid bite, "So who's gonna tell me where Keri is?" I tried making my voice sound answered me with a casual glance, "I'm pretty sure she went to the bathroom or the buffet area, she left like right before you woke up ha, ha""ah." I said and began eating my pancakes, it was stormy outside so I was glad to be off the train, the bad part was we were going to have to walk awhile to find a taxi or bus. Keri shortly came over with a trey of food, "hungry?" I asked her."You have no idea." She said, making one of those faces, it made me laugh. Even though there was a storm outside it was not raining, it was just dark so I guessed we still had some time before the storm actually hit, which made me want to be out of the diner before the real thing hit. We needed a bus to get to another train station, and we needed the train to get to another bus and then the other bus to take us to a boat. I sat there putting pieces together while everyone else ate their food, and looking at Damien I could tell he was on edge. "Ok even though we've only been settled for like twenty minutes, we need to go, I got knocked over by someone and saw something off in the distance." Keri said. I had her go and pay the cashier person while I helped Damien and Dom get all of our stuff, we sat in one of the booths before actually heading out, planning what we were going to do. We were barely a mile from the restaurant when it started raining, Dom I noticed had no jacket so I took off my duster and thought about letting him use that but I remembered I had my gun in there. It would have probably have been big for him, heck it was big on me almost. I was happy it was raining for a few reasons, one: Damien said it washed the half-blood scent off better. And the other reason, reason number two: It made me feel calmer, stronger, it made my blood run faster through my thick veins. I was told once that God was in the rain, that when it rained he was crying, which all of that made him closer, but I knew that wasn't true. _There has got to be something else going on in this world, why do I feel better in the rain while I always seem to also feel hot instead of cold. Everyone has a temperature of 98.6, teachers and doctors used to think I was sick because my temperature was always at 101.6, when I was a baby I was always sick, always needing a doctor, then suddenly I grew immune to most the sicknesses that would plague people. There are so many questions I need answered…_Damien ruined my thoughts.

"Hey get out that map, we need to know where we're going."

"Huh? Oh the map." I almost got it out, "Damien its raining if you haven't noticed and getting that map wet isn't exactly a good idea. Now if you can find somewhere for us to stay that's sheltered, then heck."

"That's just the thing, I don't even know where we are right now, lets just get to a gas-station, we can get it out, read it, find where we are, then get back on the road till we need to stop." He was very convincing, however I wanted to stay in the rain even though I knew what was best for my group.

"Fine we'll find a gas-station, and hey I don't know if I have enough money to get us all on a bus or train, I mean I got some money from the cab driver Demetrius, there was something different about him," I stopped and looked at Damien sternly, "besides that I saw a sign for a Victory Lane about a mile back."

They all walked with bunched shoulders except me, I was enjoying the rain, and as we walked Keri kept almost tripping over herself.

"Hey is that it over there." Dom pointed at a nice looking gas station.

"Awesome, I'm tired of tripping everywhere and I'm hungry." Keri complained.

It took us a few minutes to reach the store, the air smelt of fuel and cigarette smoke, people were fueling up there gas-tanks, and some were outside sitting on benches smoking. Once we were inside Keri, and Dom made exasperated sounds like they were happy to be out of the rain. I sat down in one of the booths with Damien and checked out the map, Keri was walking around with money that she had, and Dom was in the bathroom. Keri came over with a few snacks; sour gummy worms, fries, and even some pizza. Dom soon later joined us, and Damien and I found where we needed to be. I got up after abit to stretch, The stores TV was on and one word caught my attention; disappeared. I walked over and a few people were looking at me but didn't pay to much attention since I held my head up and I looked what was showing on the television. I was glad my group was sitting away from the cashier, I wasn't sure what would happen. The news on the TV was about me, sitting there talking to a news reporter was my step mom Kim, I needed a closer look. People left the area when I got closer and I rummaged through the other news channels sure enough I was on two other ones. The last news channel I flipped to my step mom was nagging, always nagging, I listened further. "Yes he ran away, there is without a doubt about that he even left a note, he took plenty of our stashed money, his father is gone as well, I wouldn't be surprised if the psychotic boy didn't kidnap him, his sister his gone to." She sounded down, but from the expression that she held on her face I could tell she didn't care that I was gone, heck she probably wanted me out, I knew it. My dad and sister were gone to? Now that got to me, why were they gone, my dad, maybe, but my sister?

I was about to walk away but wanted to see if I could gleam any more information from the news on a different channel, "So there you have it, Fifteen year old, Predicous Waylon. A runaway child who seems to be in league of thievery and possibly considered murder is on the loose who knows where at? Sure it's been a few days but he can't be to far with no money, food, means of transportation. Local authorities say he's nowhere in sight, so he's not in this town. Rumors however say that people seeing him running out of a Wal-Mart down in northern Wisconsin, now that is far from home, how did he get so far? How is that a Kid barely fifteen can be up there, no doubt its cold. Only way to find out what's going on is to check cameras in the Wal-Mart, this is news…" I didn't feel like listening further in, but before I left there was a picture of me on the screen.

I looked around me before going to the restroom, making sure no one was trying to catch a photo of me, I was only wearing my shirt and jeans. Washing my face off in the sink of the bathroom I stared at the image in front of me; there was a face with some facial hair scattered in several spots. A decent nose hung down from a set of eyes, eyes that where deep blue, eyes that seemed hard. The face had a stunningly handsome jaw line and medium set ears. The Hair was the most crucial part of the head, it was shaggy and greasy, and it shined like waxed linoleum. Stepping back from the mirror I saw that it was me in the image. The picture they had in the news of me wasn't that good, I looked a lot younger, however I wasn't about to test things, we needed to leave.

"We need to leave immediately." I said using as much force as possible, I was starting to get a bad feeling not about the gas station but about something else, something was about to go down and I didn't like it.

"Alright, lets just grab a few more snacks before we go" Dom said. I wanted to get out of there but I wasn't too sure how often we were gonna stop while we walked. It was definitely gonna be a long walk.

While I bought more snacks for us I couldn't help but think how my dad was gone, I was struggling with that fact, I missed him for once, and now somehow he was gone…I wasn't sure what to think, during my thoughts I didn't take much notice to the cashier waiting for my things. I laid out the things on the counter and looked around me. The guy working gave me back my change and before I could leave caught my arm. I was ready to fight.

"Dude, oh my God! Are you that kid on the news?

"The kid on the news?" I asked trying to sound like I didn't know what he was talking about, if I had haven't said so already, I'm wonderful at lying my facial expressions change to what I'm trying to lie about and I thought I had this guy convinced until he said,

"Yeah the kid on the news, I knew it's you. You don't need to worry, a lot of people out there are actually cheering for you, I mean I know you didn't kill your dad or sister, and obviously they're not here so something else is going on. People don't run away for no good reason, here, here's something for the road you'll probably need it." He took out his wallet and I knew he was gonna give me something, "Ha heck, I'm surprised you've made it this far anyway, they've been playing you on the news for like three days now." He handed me some money I didn't feel like counting it, I thanked the cashier and left.

We spent a long time walking, continuously checking the map. It no longer rained on us but snowed, making us even colder than most of us already were. I searched around ahead a few times trying to find a gym or high school. Pulling out my pocket watch I checked the time; it was six-forty-three. I made an estimated guess by the look on their faces( Keri, Dom, and Damien) that we could all last probably another few hours before actually wearing. "Ha, ha, wow I've walked way to much this past year." I said and laughed again, I thought it was funny how much I walked now, my legs could barely feel the wear of the journey and I was without a doubt, really tone. My legs hardly ever got sore even if we walk for miles on miles, I must be a lot strong in the legs, anyway. We walked across the highway, said jokes, made fun of each other, and just had a good time.

We kept moving even when it was colder, even when it was night we would keep moving. I was just interested in finding a high school. We had no avail, for two more full days we walked without sleep. "This is ridiculous." I yelled, no one heard me though; I was out chopping wood for a fire so we could all stay warm for the night since we couldn't find the high school. I walked past another tree and next to the three was another one only the other tree had something written on the bark, and the tree was gigantic.

Suddenly I felt the same pull I felt towards Damien, I observed the tree and what was written into the bark was ancient Greek, it had the older looking symbols then the more Modern Greek. Somehow I made out one word out of it all; Destination.

I thought it must have been almost like a practical joke or something. "Interdane Residence three-forty." I said just playing along, I laughed at how corny everything seemed to be to me these days and then everything went quiet, I stepped forward to get a closer look at the tree and then suddenly I felt it pulling I tried resisting it but couldn't. I was being pulled into the tree, I thought I was going to hit it with my face so I closed my eyes in hope that I wouldn't but next thing I knew I was dropped onto one of Haven's sofas at his house, I walked around and found Von, Haven's dad, typing something on his laptop. Sitting somewhere close by I waited for him to get done. When he didn't stop typing or show any sign of it I decided to walk around, my gut was pulling me towards that old room with the swords. They were more appealing to me this time then they were the first time, it was almost as if every time I came here a saw them I wanted them even more. Outside the moon was almost full, bright against the night sky showing off the winter floor. I felt changed but I couldn't tell what was changed. Something else was going on in this world and I was going to find out what it was. I felt a few chills so I walked around the house again looking for Haven's dad.

He was sitting in front of their new plasma screen TV watching the news, and then he turned to get his drink and his eyes settled on me like he was seeing a ghost. "Predicous, Christ, you nearly gave me a heart attack, what are you doing here?" he seemed just as confused as I was, "Your all over the news, you're a big hit right now even though I know you didn't do have the things they said you did, but what all has been going on wit you lately, you even look a bit different then you first did when you were here, hmm just tell me everything that's happened, and how'd you even get back here so quickly?" I could tell how curious he was, and this whole thing seemed like a dream to me. I explained everything, leaving out no details I even went as far to tell him about the book and the changes I've been feeling since I read it. I wanted to keep most of the huge stuff to myself but I found myself explaining everything. Even the many people I met on my journey.

"That is quite interesting, and honestly I completely unsure of what to really say to all that. I mean I've known about some of that for awhile but…" he looked away in though, "Oh wait! You said you arrived here through some sort of portal right? Well those portals can only be used twice and then they change places. Your friends are probably waiting for you, so you had best hurry back. I have a permanent one in my house though, now once you go through the second time you can't go back. Now c-mon." Haven's dad looked really exited and that caused me to ask a question.

"You've used this before right?"

"Of course I have—ok maybe not, but don't worry I sent a fruit basket to my front door once using the portal." He said and smiled.

_A fruit basket? Ha, this guy is a fruit basket. _I thought to myself, I followed him nevertheless because of my curiosity.

We walked down the steps of his basement and I looked around trying to see where this "door" was, nothing was there. He led me down a small hallway an in the middle of it he pulled a lever, The wall changed into a door like in the older Batman movies. The door led to a hall, which led us to a long corridor, then at the end was a staircase. We walked down the stairs an to a room, the room had all kinds of fascinating things; swords, weapons, shields, armor (of all kinds), it was amazing.

"You seem different." Vaun said looking at me closely.

"Do I?" I wondered what he meant by his statement. "How?"

"Well for one your looks are slightly different, but its how you carry yourself that's the most obvious."

"You're being skeptical, ha, ha."

"Yes I am aren't I. What I meant was you seem more careful, more uh disciplined and you look tougher, even kind of scary." He smiled at me kindly.

"I guess your right." I said to conclude our conversation, we were in front of something that looked like a mirror.

"This is the door to somewhere and yet no where, do you wish to proceed with this, you could always just stay here and contact your friends…" I could tell me meant well but I knew I had to get to my friends.

"I can't sorry, I would but I have a good feeling they'll need my help."

"Alright then. All you have to do is say your destination." I thought about it, I don't really know where it was, there are a lot of woods so I came to a different conclusion. "Oh hey before you go you need to understand that while your in the portal time is actually sped up, your not though."

"Well thanks for the advice, I'm sure I'll be alright, thanks for everything again," I looked at the portal, "Keri."

The door to the portal took me in and I closed my eyes but then realized I didn't need to. I kept my eyes opened for this ride, I wanted to see what was what. Traveling in some sort of tunnel it almost reminded me of a book I once read, it was different though. It was extremely quiet except for a low hum, the walls were almost translucent, a blue vortex looking background was outside of the tunnel. I still thought I was dreaming though, nothing is as big as this. "Some dream." I said quietly and then suddenly the vortex stopped and I was dropped right next to Keri, I landed on my butt. "Ouch!" I said and Keri screamed.

Keri obviously didn't expect me to land right next to her, I started laughing and then realized it wasn't a dream, none of that was a dream. "Where were you! You've been gone almost two hours Predicous, you made Damien worry about you!" Damien and Dom gave me the 'your in trouble' look and Keri looked slightly nervous, but I couldn't blame her.

"Hey just calm down now alright, I'm sorry it took so long, I got lost for a few minutes, but stop yelling alright." I said trying to have an easy conversation, but I tell you, she is extremely stubborn,

"Don't be telling me to calm down, you could have died or something so sit down and shut up. Don't even talk to me!" Yep she was mad so I decided to let her cool down for awhile.

I brought out some food for me since they already had a fire started, Dom was fast asleep, Damien was just staring up at the stars and Clair well I thought she was asleep but she wasn't even tired especially after our argument, she just kept her eyes shut. After I ate some food I was getting ready to go to sleep I even got out stuff to make a canvas tent incase it rained Damien said he didn't want to sleep in it because he liked the outdoors, even though it was snowing. He helped me get Dom to the tent. There was enough room for at least all of us but yeah. I walked over to Clair and I could tell she wasn't really asleep, so either way I left her alone. I grabbed a small blanket and pulled it over her and then walked over to our fire and put it out. I grabbed more firewood just in case, and honestly I wasn't that tired I had a million things running through my mind. I went into the canvas tent. I felt a lot like an Indian. I looked up, not closing my eyes. Suddenly it got warmer in the tent so I took off my shirt to use it as a pillow. I pulled my cover over me, and was almost asleep until I felt someone else get under it.

"I know you're not asleep yet, Predicous, I came here to say sorry about how I acted, well actually it was Damien's idea that I say sorry" she said with a nervous laugh.

"S-okay, I wasn't really trying to scare you or anything" I said accepting her apology.

"Who ever said I was scared?" she asked, "well that doesn't matter cause I wasn't scared", I just laughed and didn't make eye contact with her.

"Well ok then" I said, and I shut my eyes, "hey I'm going to sleep, you can stay in here or go be a nature sleeper with Damien its your choice" I said chuckling, she didn't answer, I looked over and her head was turned, so I sat up to see if she was asleep but her eyes were open, "hey are you ok?" I asked.

"Huh? Oh umm yeah I'm fine…Its just I don't know. I'm just tired." she said and then we both said "night" and closed our eyes.

It got cooler in the tent but I barely felt it, after awhile I finally fell asleep, my dream was different this time. I was outside in an area with people bustling around, there were people sparring with swords, there were classes outside (even though it was dark out). I even spotted Haven and David they were talking about something, so I walked up to them, "hey guys" I acted casual.

"Predicous what, how are you here! And why do you look kind of translucent?" David said seeming confused.

"Yeah, David's right Predicous, how are you here like what all has been happening to you?" Haven seemed just as confused, his voice was slightly deeper to. I explained to them that it was a dream and I explained what all I've been through and the new friends that I have and the monsters and other things we've all faced. All the things I explained to Haven's Dad except I left out a few things, after that haven spoke. "I think I have the answer to how you're here because Predicous you are not dreaming. I read about it in a Greek mythology books a few years ago, it's called dream scapeing. It's something that is really rare and it takes a lot of meditation to figure out I can't even do it yet. I wanted to do it, so I could visit my dad whenever I got here, since he does stay awake quite awhile, but yeah anyway how are you doing it?"

"To be honest I don't even know how. I was thinking about you and David a few minutes before I fell asleep and then my dream went to another dream, so I thought and I winded up here. I really don't know how I did it Haven." I explained.

After we all sat there trying to make sense of things David said something, "I'm not sure what it is but something has been making most of the teachers nervous. I've been observing everyone lately because one of the teachers disappeared a few nights ago, things have been…weird."

"David how come you didn't tell me this till now?" Haven asked.

"We'll have to have this discussion some other time guys I can feel a pull going on or something. So you two can keep talking but I'm going to have to go." I cut Haven off because I wasn't sure how much time I had left to stay there.

"Alright. Predicous be careful, and when you get here I'll make you get all the things you need, can't wait to be reunited ha, it'll be great." Haven said, he looked pleased that I was gonna be there.

"Yeah, hey, I can't wait either." David said. I didn't get a chance to reply I was pulled back to my body and I burst awake with a sharp breath. Slowly and quietly I looked around and saw that Keri was still up. I turned on the lamp light that was set up so I could get out my glasses. I decided I didn't feel like it. Laying back down I thought about my argument with Keri.

"You're probably pretty mad at me," Keri said catching me off guard. I didn't face her I just turned my head facing the sky. "Look Predicous, I'm really sorry, its just I lost my family, and I don't want to lose any of my friends, specially one as optimistic as you, your like the leader of our little group, so I'm sorry for the way I acted earlier, I was just a bit angry".

"Hey s-okay, I was a little surprised of your outburst at me, but yeah its cool, I understand I probably would have done the same, but you know something your extremely stubborn" I said laughing.

"Ha, yeah I guess I can be like that sometimes, but you'll get use to it." I could tell she was smiling under what she was saying but I hadn't looked at her.

"You know something it's okay to be mad at someone if you care about them a lot and want to make sure there alright." I said back after awhile. She didn't respond back so I decided she was probably asleep but I turned to look at her and she had a few tears coming down her cheeks, I wasn't really sure what to do so I sat up, turned off the light and then lay back down. "Hey I'm sorry for what I said, I didn't mean for you to cry." I said apologizing, but she still didn't answer.

I shut my eyes and was not prepared for the dream I was about to have.

"Predicurseus where are you going!" someone was saying to me, it was a female voice.

I heard myself reply. "Don't worry about it. I'm just gonna go do something to cool off a bit." I felt tears coming and I walked out of some kind of infirmary, and my unconscious self walked to a rock that had a ladder next to it the rock was huge however, and it had a tower on it, I climbed the ladder to the top and over looked what I figured was a battle ground. I felt full, but the time felt different like it was a very long time ago.

"Alright, hey look you shouldn't be up here they might shoot you with arrows, I cannot protect you so much Predicurseus. Were great friends, ever since you turned, but just because you had to go against your family doesn't mean you need to rush off to your death any time soon, Thérion could be anywhere right now." the woman was saying to me, she had angry-sad tears coming down the side of her face.

"Look Artemis, you know from experience that I'm not that easy to kill," I walked over to her and embraced her in a hug, "I'm fine standing right here, and plus you worry too much. However, I feel that my time is coming, I'm not entirely sure when but it is, Whether it be in battle or poisoning I have no idea"

"Don't talk like that, you said yourself that negative thinking is what causes dooms and destruction…if it weren't for you, lives would have been lost…I have an idea, it's really risky and it takes slight bit of time…"

I woke up from my dream to the sun shining through, I wish I could have seen more of the dream because it got to me, and…it almost seemed familiar, I was thinking so hard about it, I hadn't noticed that Keri was right next to me, she seemed so peaceful but then again its best she seems peaceful instead of all stubborn, she was turned right at me, I wasn't sure how I could move without waking her, until I remembered that she was a very heavy sleeper. I moved away from her slightly and then got out of my covers I had no idea what time it was but it was obviously early Damien was laying funny as he usually does on a log. The outside air was amazing it relaxed me, the noises of the woods the morning sun, the dew on the grass it all seemed unreal I went back to the canvas tent and opened the front, Dom was half awake so I woke him up first.

"Hey man I'm tryin to sleep" he said sounding annoyed, but he stood realizing the sun was up. I went over to Keri and stood over her for a few short seconds wondering what her dream was about, it seemed like an important one, I lightly shook her shoulder then remembered it takes more than that so I walked over to my water bottle and poured some on her face it worked a little, but barely so after that I shook her shoulder again and she said,

"What time is it?"

"It's umm well I'm not sure but we should get moving, we need to pack things up and all and then we've got about uh well lots of fun miles ahead of us until we reach a bus stop" I said in reply, she shook her ahead and stood up and stretched, I walked out of the canvas tent and grabbed the bag the held it and opened it up, Keri came out and started taking it down for me and then after that we folded it up and stuffed it in the bag, later we woke up Damien, he helped with the rest of our stuff, we stood together and looked at the map that I had and then we saw our direction and we headed towards it, it wasn't to hard since my mind was else-where, one thing was obvious about my dream there were people in it and one of them was Artemis and This Predicurseus person whom everyone thinks is me, but there's no way because that was a long time ago that was already explained in my dream with all the clothes everyone was wearing, I was at a dead end in my thoughts so I wanted to know if Keri remembered her dream, "Hey what did you dream about last night?, my dream was…interesting ha-ha" I said to her.

"Well umm, I remember it but it's kind of complicated" she said and it almost seemed like she was blushing, she turned away, "we'll see what happens and then maybe I'll tell you."

We arrived at a city not long after we started walking and hunger bit at all of us. And shortly after being in the middle of the town we decided on a restaurant to go to, Keri wanted Bob-Evans, Dom and Damien both wanted Denny's and well me, I was totally neutral to wherever we went. It turned out we went to both places, we got Denny's to-go and ate at Bob-Evans. Once we were all filled up and ready to go a woman appeared to us, well walked over after staring at us for like twenty minutes.

"I'm surprised you kids could afford all that food, and oh Damien I hadn't realized you were gone from the camp, did they actually set you out on a mission to find half-bloods like they told you last year? Only two smell like half-bloods?" she said and crinkled her nose.

"Oh hey Tanya, I didn't recognize you with your new hair, you look different from last year? How come you haven't been at the school?"

"Gotta love the question game, ha, ha, and well I moved in this town, and I couldn't hardly tell if it was you or not until I gotta closer look, and well I haven't been there because there's just so much drama that goes on, and plus im outa age did you forget that I'm turning twenty-two this spring?"

"Oh! That's right, ha, yeah sorry I kind of did forget, but like we need ta get going. It was nice seeing you though, I-M me sometime we'll talk again." Damien said and got up which I guessed was our cue to do the same. It was interesting hearing him talk to her, he was a friendly person and it seemed lots of girls liked him but I couldn't see why exactly? "Sorry about that, that was Tanya a daughter of Leto."

"Daughter of who?" I asked.

Damien laughed and said "you'll find out all the gods, and not just the Greek ones…

Dom found a bus nearby and we talked about something on the way there, but before long we began to tire. Looking around we all spotted a hotel called "_Sleepless In",_ it looked like a really cozy place to be for a night. I looked at the map and realized we had barely a mile in-a-half left until we'd be at the bus station. I debated on whether to argue with the three of them or just go ahead and sleep. My decision was made for me, "Hello, how may I help you?" it was a small person who had tinted shades (sunglasses) on, clearly though it was dark outside and the light inside was dim.

"Um yes I'd like rent a room for the night please." I said trying to sound adult like.

"We have three available rooms, smoking or non-smoking"

"Non-smoking, please." I said and, I looked at the person and they just didn't seem real, like their skin was pale, and just who wears shades at night?

"Alright then, here are your cards, we have a small arcade in the basement and welcome to the sleepless hotel."

We all headed straight for the room; there was no way we were going to play games. Maybe we'd play games in the morning but for now we all just wanted to sleep. It turned out that the room we were given linked to three other rooms which meant we'd each get our own beds, our own showers (which was one of those pedal operating showers), but no TV. We each had a key so that meant no real privacy but none of us cared we were just too tired to complain.

I plopped down on the bed and let in a big breath to let it out but before I let out the oxygen there was a strong smell either in the air or from the bed, but not too strong. Next thing I knew I was asleep, and was in complete total relaxation, there was a whisper in my ear.

Nightmares came first, they showed things that I wouldn't have thought about, things that can ruin someone, and in all admittance I was scared out of my mind. It was rare for me to have nightmares, rare to be scared. The area around me was darkened. My feet fell on mounds of leaves and sticks. All around me howling peirced the air, chills ran up my spine. Suddenly I started feeling another presence in my dream, I looked around thinking someone was around but the feeling wasn't one you'd get in dreams it felt to real. As I was turning around to see where I was going there was a winged creature barely three hundred feet from me. The moonlight shined on it with some light, the formed seemed too changed from a wispy shadow, to the winged beast, and to a cyote with wings. The creature smiled at me, and walked forward. Teeth gleamed from its jaw and then it talked.

"You are a stubborn being, what are you?" He asked me

"What?" I couldn't believe what I was seeing, even with nightmares theres still things that are controllable.

"You must understand, I am the god of nightmares and you're ruining yours. You should just let what's going on go on, but you just keep trying to change things."

"Uh? Im still confused? Aren't I dreaming?"

"Yes but your sapposed to be having a nightmare created from me." His smile faded, he made a hand gesture that turned things around and he looked around. "I am Phobetor, but now you will meet my brother." With that he left and my dream went blank.

I was still confused by the event, but it was just a dream so I knew I was going to be fine. My blank dream changed to a dream that seemed like it was about my child hood…I saw the little me, maybe 7 years old. Little me was running around playing a game with my old friends. I wanted to run to the little me and tell him to not tell my friends about the farm. I remembered what happened that day. I few other kids were up there, teenagers, they were smoking cigarettes and breaking things at the farm, that was the day I wanted to show my friends the farm and how cool it was. When I did, the teenagers came up to us and started picking on us…only two of my friends know what happened that day to me, there was Trevor Brown, Dustin Anderson, Darren Bellow, and Jason Nikx. Dustin and Darren were the ones who witnessed what happened. Remembering what happened I ran to the little me, but when I tried saying something I couldn't get sound out. My dream changed again, I started wondering why my dreams kept changing so abruptly, this dream the world was a shade of red, almost like I was color-blind.

"Wake up, Predicous! Please!" Even in my dream I could hear someone, but it sounded like Dom. I could feel my shoulder being shook, but I couldn't wake up my weird red dream continued, a pale white ghost flowed towards me, holding a weapon of some kind, and then I heard yelling. "Predicous, look this isn't a dream, well it is but it's a regular dream, wake up" It was Dom he was clearly in my dream, the ghost turned to him and sneered.

"Dom? What are you talking about? If im not really dreaming how are you in it?" I asked him with a quizzical look.

"I can't explain it, but tried waking you up, these dreams are designed to keep us here until the makers find a way to kill us!"

"Well how do you expect me to wake up?" the ghost was pulling something out of his robe or whatever it was, a book it seemed, he looked confused.

Dom looked nervously to the ghost, "I have an idea but you have to trust me." He tried to keep his voice calm. And then he shimmered away, disappeared.

"Oh great leave me with the ghost dude, this dream just gets better and better."

"Are you joking? That dang kid violated rule regulation two-two-three!" the ghost yelled, his voice was squeaky, and he looked angry, "no matter I guess I'll just have try and take care of you quickly." He changed form but before he did I turned around, good thing I did because I felt heat cover my back. When the heat subsided I turned around.

"Wow, well you sure made a transformation" I said and laughed, "how old are you?"

"Child, do not joke with me, however now I will…"

I jolted awake falling out of the bed I was in, "well ouch!" I said.

"No time to talk, we need to check up on Keri and Damien."

"You haven't checked on them!" I yelled as we through the doors to their rooms, he went to Keri and I went to Damien.

Damien Lay there still as could be, but it looked like he was breathing it was hard to tell. I walked slowly over to him hoping he was alive and suddenly he said, "Is fruit cake healthy?" he mumbled it under his breath either way I was relieved to know he was still with me. I could hear Dom in the other room, frantically trying to wake up Keri, but as I knew she was a really hard sleeper. I lightly slapped Damien in the face hoping to wake him up without getting kicked with his hooves, which would hurt. He didn't budge. I started wondering if a dream could keep you, like a coma. But I wasn't about to start thinking negative, I tried remembering how Dom got me and then I figured it out, in all dreams there is a certain kick that wakes you up, whether water splashing your face or if your falling from your bed, and sometimes certain smells can work. I tried to tip him but it didn't work, I got a hold of his feet/hooves and started to pull him off the bed. Something somehow got a hold of him and wasn't letting go, he was stuck in one spot, I pulled and pulled but it just wouldn't work. I was beginning to get scared. And then anger welled inside me, whatever it was that was keeping us from leaving, whatever it was that had us stuck in our dreams was about to win. I felt my face begin to heat up and my whole body, I thought the ghosts or whatever they were, were trying to get me sick or something I wasn't going to give up, my eyesight suddenly changed, things had a different tint; like I could see Damien but it looked like a heat was on him almost like I had infrared goggles on. I looked down at my hands and it looked like they were giving off a heat wave, I didn't understand what was going on. Trying to put my hands together for the heat wave to go away all I did was start something else, my hands caught on fire.

I looked at Damien and I could see something hovering on the bed glaring at me with hate. I didn't know what was going on, whether this was actually part of my dream or if something was actually happening. The ghost jumped at me and screamed, nearly busting my eardrums, throwing a punch I could feel my fist go through something cold. I could feel moisture and something else I couldn't make. The ghost turned into a figure with black wings. His eyes looked hypnotizing so I had to look away, but something told me to look at his eyes that's when things went a little crazy.

"Aaaah!" Dom came yelling in the room, for a second I thought he was inured but he went flying at the winged dude and tackled him down and started wailing his fists on the winged guy.

"You pathetic child, I am a god, you can't—Whoa!" he quit squirming and I turned to look. Dom was glowing a weird color and above his head a weird picture that looked holographic was hovering, it was the picture of a moon with eyes and a mouth but it looked asleep, I didn't get what that meant but the winged guy seemed to know. "Ha, ha, Perhaps another time young demigod." The winged being tossed Dom off and went through the window.

The thing above Dom's head disappeared, "I don't get it what happened?" he asked. We could hear Keri waking up in the other room and Dom still looked confused as ever. Damien muttered a few words and then his eyes popped open.

"Guys we have to get out of here, immediately! There's something not right with any of this." Dom and I turned to him, and started laughing leaving Damien and Keri both looking dead confused. It was moments like this that I'd love to go over and over in my head, moments with friends back home.

The sky was a different color so I figured it was midmorning as we walked out of the lobby. An then I took a look at the digital billboard, it said it was 6:13 a.m., but before I turned it said something else it seemed impossible but the board said it was Sunday, January 24th, that meant we had only barely ten days left till my birthday.

"Hey guys I've been meaning to tell you," Damien was saying while he looked at the map, "Were getting pretty close to the school we have to get to the bottom of Louisiana. We have enough money together for a bus ride so maybe we should look for a bus-stop."

Walking around the town trying to find a bus-stop was quite a bit easier than we thought it was going to be. After going down about seven blocks and rounding a few corners we found a bus-barn full of buses and it seemed we were right basically right on time, some busses were pulling out to dispatch to stops and some were filling gas. On first site we thought they were school busses but when asking one of the bus drivers, she told us they were 'WCBD's' or "Winfield City Bus Dispatchers". I'll tell you one thing we were completely confused as to what that was it seemed we were all used to the same thing, city bus drivers, or school bus drivers.

"Ma'am?" Keri asked.

"Yes?" the lady said back, it seemed she had almost an Irish accent but her hair color was blonde so it didn't seem as so.

"Do you know the farthest south you could take us" Keri said pointing at Damien, Dom, and I.

"Uh, well if you'd like, I go south anyway, but if you like I can check on my schedule and my route to see the farthest I go, but y'all call ride till I find out which shouldn't take me long to figure out, but I'll take you if I can close to Abbeville but, like I said it depends on a few things."

To Dom, Keri, and Damien that sounded fine but something about it seemed irregular because I couldn't tell whether that meant she wanted us to pay money or if she wanted us to wait, the whole thing seemed way too complicated.

"Oh it's quite alright ma'am, we'll just find a train to take us to Abbeville." I said, sure I broke everyone's thought process.

To anything free there was always some type of price or catch.

Sure enough we found out that the town down from us had a train station kind of like the one that was in New York, I believe it was called the Amtrak Station? Either way that made us lucky, a simple school bus picked us up as we were halfway there. The driver, an old man with smile lines and shaggy ash hair, told us he hated it when kids would walk and no one would have enough heart to pick them up. He seemed a kind honest man. We sat in different seats sort of, Dom was with me, and Damien was with Keri. It hadn't occurred to me but all that was going on was almost like the _Percy Jackson and The Olympians_ book I read during school, it seemed like so long ago. Anyway that book had a lot of likely ideas and things. I wanted to ask Damien a good question.

"Damien?" I said looking over the seat to speak to him.

"Yeah, what?" he sounded like he was on the cranky side.

"Have you ever read any mythology books?"

"Yeah of course, it's really interesting what you humans say and put about the deities of different cultures."

"I don't mean like those dictionary things, I mean real books like the _Percy Jackson_ series?"

"Oh well I read the first 5 pages to see what it was about, it looked good…but well I don't like it, I'm proud of the author though for his belief, well if he does even actually believe in Greek Mythology."

It was obvious that there was more but I didn't want to pester him, "maybe he does, maybe he doesn't, hell I don't really know what to believe anymore." A lot went through my mind even before I had said that, I was getting mad because it was true. My whole life I spent going to church learning about 'God' and look at me now, im seeing things that just don't match up with the real things. "Don't worry about it though, things will play out and I'll find out the real truth of things."

He looked at me cautiously before replying, "I'll tell you right now, from what I understand, God is real, but I don't have the authorization to explain that stuff to you," he looked over at Keri, and then outside. The bus had stopped. Suddenly something in the air seemed to make it darker, the air went cold, and for a second I thought I saw something.

The old guy, Brian Tane, told us where we were and he told us good luck, something told me I wouldn't be seeing this nice old guy. The look on Damien's face was the same. That day would be unforgettable, things that happen in everyday downtowns, the things you see on movies or things you'd hear on the news were nothing compared to what happened. Brian was fueling up and talking to us before we were really gonna hit the road and go to the train station, reason being was because we still had an extra two hours till the train would be getting to the station.

A cold breeze touched me, we were walking away from the gas-station, a vehicle pulled up, and it was an Excursion. The bass beating all sound with the loud music, loud people things that always give me bad feelings, all happened at once. A few guys opened the doors to the Excursion and got out. One of them walked up Brian and shoved him over.

"Hey guys hold on a minute." I said, "Something isn't right."

They all seemed to notice what was wrong so they waited for me. "Hurry up"

I was nervous, and when I jogged over there the guy was yelling at Brian, things were getting hot. Besides that happening people were yelling at each other inside, a quick look told me what was going on; it was a robbery and the manager wasn't going to give up anything. I quickened my feet into a sprint, in all right I should have gone into the store and helped the manager but I couldn't let my friend go down, the guy pushing him around pulled out a gun.

My mind raced and so did time, things happened too quickly. I found myself tackling the guy with the gun, also I had yelled drawing his attention to me...I was too late though, Brian gave me a smile and closed his eyes. Two shots were fired. The gunner and I were in the air while Brian fell towards the ground. I looked in the eyes of a killer, a man with no mercy, how could someone like this be innocent when they were younger? Anguish filled inside of me, the night air seemed to get warmer. The killer and I hit the ground hard enough to knock the gun out of his hand. His expression was surprise and anger, nothing in his face that told me he had a good soul.

"Kids think they know the world." He laughed, "Welcome to life man." He was about to grab his gun when he stood up but something wouldn't allow him to, I stood up.

Someone whispered in my ear, "Death is not to be feared or mourned, its occasional, you cannot stop what has already happened."

No one was there though, it was just a few people scared, sitting in their cars, or in the gas-station, the killer was still trying to get his gun and I found myself pulling my weapon out and aiming it at him.

"What is your name?" I asked him.

A split look of fear crossed his face but whatever it was that wouldn't let him get his gun let him get it, he pointed it at me.

"Isaac Amnello, What's it matter to you runt?"

"It matters to me because what you do not understand is that you're not messing with just some kid," I don't know what came over me but I let whatever was going on go, "I am prince of all Nyphilim, reborn unto this world to right what was wrong, to fix and balance out good and evil, and to show the world what is in all some of the power of God, and with God there is justice."

The killer, Isaac, looked at me and started laughing, his mistake. I was feeling different, the gun fell out of my hands fire entered them, and Isaac wasn't laughing anymore true fear entered him.

The hold up in the gas-station was still going on all of Isaacs companions were in there, steeling what they could. A presence was behind me, the smell of winter filled my nose. I couldn't take this man's life, I extinguished the fire within me, and the fire that was around me, it quit. I felt tired and from the corner of my eye I saw Keri running towards me.

Isaac was quick to act, "I don't know what you are," he looked around, "but no one is watching and I'm not about to die so goodbye." I thought when he said that that he'd just get back in his vehicle but he meant otherwise. He a let a bullet go, I could feel it pass through me, He gave out two more shots.

I fell to my knees, and looked at my friends who were running towards me, Keri though seemed to disappear.

It was a half-moon out that night. Things slowed down quite drastically, I wasn't sure why though? Keri re-appeared in front of me and from what I was seeing there was a glow, a light, around her body, suddenly the killer, Isaac, fell to the ground. And Keri was by my side weeping, I thought "am I dying, so soon already."

I saw Damien and Dom standing, Keri was kneeling down holding me up, it didn't make any sense really? I felt fine, sure there was a burning sensation but, wait, I wasn't actually dying I was healing in fact.

"Keri, I'm fine, would you mind if I stood up?" I said to her smiling.

"NO! Predicous he shot you, you should be...dead?" she realized I wasn't, she realized I would have, and should been dead.

I took off my Duster and my shirt and examined my body, the bullets did go clean through me but as my shirt was stained with my blood, all there was left were small scars.

"That. that is really interesting." Damien said.

Even though it was cold out my body was hot, I could feel the fire still residing in me, but I put my shirt on because I was felt embarrassed.

Dom was shocked and like any kid asked me tons of questions, telling me I was like superman, how did I get fire in my hands from nothing, was a special like him (which if I remember I had already told him I wasn't a half-blood), and then he started doing quick assumptions of what I am and I mean quick, he'd jump from a fire user to a demon, to a son of some kind of fire wielding god (which got ruled out because again I am not like him).

Only thing Damien did was sit there and look at me like _oh poor you, want me to help, not._ Some friend he is.

And Then I remembered completely and clearly what had happened, Keri had saved _my _life. How did she do it though? I wanted to ask her but something held me from it.

"Guys we should probably hurry up and get going." I said "if we don't we'll probably miss that train and I don't want to wait for another one."

The whole scene that occurred at the gas-station played over in my head like a never ending nightmare, the way Brian smiled at closed his eyes preparing for death to take him—wait what if that was the thing I sensed and saw on the bus, _nah that's impossible, death is a natural thing, it's not like death is an actual being that takes people when they die, this isn't the charmed episodes_, I said in my head. But it still nagged at me, the thought of something supernatural like that was not anything normal and definitely not table talk, obviously though there were such things as gods. I've seen them first hand. Though I chose not to believe they exist, I want my questions answered, Like if there was God, then how could there be _gods_, what about the demons?, If there are monsters in this world such as that _hellhound_ I killed, what about the demons?

In all that thought I was in we were at the train tracks before I realized it. Lights were around us marking where we were, the train station.

It was bright when we got inside, bright enough each of us had to squint real hard and get our eyes to adjust. I'd seen plenty of Airports and train stations but this one topped both of them, tons of people were hanging around the lobby areas or they were boarding. Speaking of boarding we had to hurry our butts up. Looking at Dom I could tell he was about to pass out on the spot so I had Keri (she looked the best out of all of us) go to the ticket both and pay for the tickets. She rushed off faster than I would have thought she was going to. I watched her carefully trying to see if there was any type of change in the way she carried herself, there wasn't. Keri seemed to be in a lot of deep thought as well as I was, and in deep thought she looked beautiful, it was hard not flirting with her or making any sort of moves on her. Her luscious lips, and beautiful light grey eyes were a temptation every time I was near her, sometimes she'd smile at me but most the time she held the same look throughout the day. I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around thinking I was going to be faced with another load of questions from Dom.

"Sir would you like to by our premium ride package it comes with complementary food and beverages." A young looking sales worker asked me, they looked to be in their early twenty's, "Also we have this new website you can go on to check out books." Her eyes seemed to flicker.

"No that's quite alright ma'am, I'll be fine, we're just waiting on my friend over there." I tried to sound sincere but it probably came out more like a nervous slur.

"Oh but it doesn't take much, all you have to do is sign a few papers, you don't even have to read them," she gave Damien and Dom a look that told me she wasn't interested in them, "It won't hardly take anytime."

Keri tapped on the sales lady's shoulder, "Excuse me but we're about to leave so would you mind leaving, thanks."

"Oh, but you…"

"But nothing we are _leaving_." Keri said again this time with a hint of anger starting to flare up. I looked at Keri and she held up the four tickets she bought. It was time for us to finally get right next to the end of the race, we were going to be safe in a matter of hours.

Everyone's mood lightened up as we each found our seats in the train, the fabric was soft and the color was velvet red. We each made a bet that Damien was going to go straight for the fruit stand, soon enough when one of the waiters past by he stood up, looked at us.

"Um guys, I'll be right back restroom is that way right." We watched as he _did_ go straight for the fruit stand being wheeled around.

Dom let out a long yawn, obviously tired, and he smiled, "see told you he was gonna go for the fruit first."

"Go to sleep dream boy." Keri told him with a soft smile on her lips.

It really didn't take him long either, give or take ten minutes the poor little guy was out. I on the other hand had a few questions I wanted to ask Keri and I knew she wanted to ask me a few also. But then again we had a good four-in-a-half hour train ride to Abbeville. Damien had told us that was where we'd find a small river with a tunnel that led to a underwater transportation device. We were getting really close to the place he talked about, I could feel it. Almost the same feeling I had about that door when we were in Sparta Wisconsin. The only problem about the whole thing was the fact that it was just too good to be true, there had to be some kind of catch about the place, like; you could never leave, you couldn't talk about the location, there had to be something.

Damien came back with a wickedly huge grin, I knew for sure he wasn't about to go to sleep, but I definitely was. I let sleep take me, and it wasn't that hard with Dom in there with us, something about him made us each sleepy.

In my dream it felt more like I was watching a movie, someone was walking in the snow under the moon, they carried a staff a lot like mine but wooden, I thought it was the same type of dream I had about Predicurseus until the character pulled out a flashlight, they didn't have those that long ago...there was a light further out that glinted off of the guys face, for a second he looked like me but a closer look told me different. Whoever he was his cheekbones were higher, his eyes were a darker color, his hair didn't hang over his eyes like mine did, and he was taller by a few inches. But that wasn't what made him different there was something about him, an aura. I've been able to do weird things lately such as that, anyway, he was alone. There was a bandage around his arm. Suddenly there was a voice, a whisper in the air. I watched as he stiffened, the air whispered something again this time more clearly, it whispered Thérion. The guy quickly pulled out two knifes that curved around close to his wrist, like daggers and then suddenly a very tall figure formed from the air. Even in the dark I could tell who it was, it was the guy I met in Sparta, the guy with that had the piercing ice-blue eyes.

I woke with a start, wondering what Thérion meant, wondering if it were a name, if it was the guy with the blades, or if it were just a word or spell.

There are too many things that aren't making sense anymore, im stuck between something and from what I've been dreaming, war is coming.

"Hey there sleepy head." Keri smiled over at me.

"Ha, hey," I replied to her, "umm Keri, I've been wondering...how did you, ya know?" I didn't really want to ask her it, mainly because the right question would have been, "how did you kill the guy with the gun", but I held back the _kill_ word.

I thought she was going to punch me with the look she gave me but it melted away and tears flooded her eyes, I immediately regretted asking it. "I'm not sure," she said between sobs, "I remember just looking at him…and the look in his eyes was fear and then they turned glassy, like he was gone, and, and he fell over." Her crying got worse.

I pulled her close to me and hugged her tight, letting go wasn't an option, I made a stupid move just out of curiosity, and I greatly regretted it. Keri was a great friend, almost a better friend than Haven. She kept no secrets from me.

"Keri, hey it'll be alright, at least you don't have to deal with some stupid scar." I said with a small chuckle, remembering how I should have been dead. And suddenly thinking about the scar I had, I was reminded of the one on my back. How come I didn't heal then? I had to start reading the book, I needed more answers.

"Predicous, I'm lucky your my friend." She said, she stopped crying sort of, a few tears would fall from the corners of her eyes. Her head lay against me and I could tell she was asleep. It was the middle of the day?

Damien sat in the seat in front of us, he was munching on some kind of fruit snack, and a little kid looked at him and giggled.

Dom was fast asleep, and the way it looked was like he'd never wake up. He'd changed since after the figure of the moon sleeping was above his head almost like, that's when I figured it out.

"Damien, I know who, well I think I know whose dad Dom's is…" I said with my eyes wide.

He looked at me with a confused expression, "do what now?"

"Dom, his dad has to be one of those dream gods or whatever."

"That's just—kind of weird, that means he can see our dreams if he tried," Damien looked in thought, "we should test it out sometime." He turned back around and went back to his fruit snacks.

Outside the window, snow was flurrying past us, trees were zipping by, and for a second I felt something brush against my mind. I looked around nervously thinking something was trying to get in my head, and then I looked back out the window and saw something that made me smile. Aldwin was following us.

_It took me awhile to find you, do not worry however your training will come but not today._ The feeling caught me by surprise. I haven't felt Aldwin's presence since…since back when I ran away.

_Aldwin!_ _You scared the crap out of me, and if you're not training me today then what are you doing?_

_You have a lot of new memories I see, what I am doing is not your business however I know where you are going, and do not forget I am here to protect you._

The fact that he went through some of my memories angered me. I could feel his emotions which meant he could feel mine to, _so are you coming with us then?_

He laughed. _Predicous you must understand, I keep knowledge from you on the fact that sometimes knowledge can't be good so I will only answer some questions, I am surprised at how strong your mind has become, and I know something else now as well now, do not let Sepheareus into your mind and do not fall in any of his traps. Something is going amiss, I must go. _And on that note he severed the connection leaving me with even more questions.

I sat in my seat, waiting for Damien to bring us all food, Keri sat in the seat next to me, and Dom was sitting with me. He looked troubled.

"What's up Dom?" I asked him, "You seem upset about something."

He looked at me carefully, turned his head the other direction, then said "Predicous, I don't understand what's goin on but I've been having these dreams lately." I thought he was going to leave it at that but he continued, "I'm running, tripping over things, I feel scared. After a few minutes a figure appears, and I through some kind of dust at him and he falls down, and I sit next to him and my eyes close." He took a breath, "I see whatever it is he's dreaming and then I whisper something in some kind of language, everything goes dark. The guy I blew the dust at is chained upside down screaming, that's when I wake up."

"That is a very interesting dream, but what does it mean?" I said with my eyes downcast. From what it seemed Dom blew a dust that made whoever that guy was pass out, and then Dom entered the man's dream.

"Well that's what I want to know, I don't know what to think about it." I could tell he was confused and I could tell he was scared.

Keri smiled at me in the other seat, which made me feel warm. I thought it was just the fire acting up again inside of me. Damien was carefully handing us the snacks, but I hurried up and grabbed a water bottle off his tray.

"Hey!" he protested.

"Hold on," I replied back to him, "I need a drink." I took a small sip of it and then I felt fine after waiting a couple minutes.

"Ah dang," he looked at the water irritably, "Predicous this is the second time you've made one of my waters hot."

I looked at him sheepishly, "sorry."

He stood up, and walked off to get a new water bottle. Dom got up and followed him to pull a prank. For the millionth time Keri and I were alone. It didn't make much sense, I was usually really good with girls but for some reason I was stumped, I had no idea how to get a conversation with Keri especially since after our last one. Someone on the intercom announced that Abbeville was going to be the next stop, so that meant we had at least fifteen more minutes, I groaned.

I'd never much thought about it but Keri had a beautiful voice, "What's wrong?" she asked me.

The question caught me off guard, "nothing, we still have a while left on this ride." I thought I was done but more words came, "I kind of wonder what exactly is in Abbeville."

"I know right, like, he gives us information but still holds some, what's he afraid of? And Predicous I know something is wrong, you've been acting weird all day."

I didn't bother answering her after that. There was one thing I didn't want to do and that was say the wrong thing to her, instead I just closed my eyes. A thought popped in my head, _I could read that book...but what about Keri what would she say about it, I shouldn't have any secrets but it seems as though I can't give out this secret mainly because it's not just mine, If I do I could get into danger…_

I pulled out the book and looked at Keri, she was looking outside, watching the snow pass by, I watched as she breathed on it and made a picture. Opening the book I felt a sudden surge of energy, the same feeling I always get when I open it. The words on it were easier to read almost as if my mind was unwrapping parts that were hidden from me before, the first title read _Realms. _There was a list of words that were strange for a few seconds until they changed into what looked like English.

"What does that even say?" Damien said suddenly to me. He looked at the book quizzically.

"What does what say?" I said.

"Don't play dumb. Is this some kind of old ancient book?"

"I don't know? I found it a long time ago when I was younger." I lied.

"Oh, if you don't know what it says, then why are you looking at it?" he questioned me.

"Damien you know I hate to many questions, and im looking at it because it's interesting."

"These pages, aren't even paper though, they're like…" he sniffed at it, and then looked at me, "Predicous, where did you find this." He demanded.

"I'm not really sure, like I said I've had it a long time."

"Look, I need to know because, because that's not normal animal flesh, That came from a Garuda!"

"Um A Guru? Isn't that some kind of teacher?" I said

"No, you don't understand, that was a bird of life," he stopped and got a piece of paper out I thought he was about to show me the difference between them but he wrote out, G-A-R-U-D-A, "That's what it is."

"You can't skin a bird like you can a dear Damien." I said rolling my eyes.

"Yes you can, no one ever does anymore." He looked like he was about to pass out. Whatever this 'Garuda' was it must have been important at some point, I was going to ask him what it was but the intercom said we were arriving at the stop for Abbeville.

We locked eyes, Damien and I, and then we got our stuff and headed off. "Alright, where im about to take you," he looked at each of us, "you cannot talk to anyone about the whereabouts of it do you understand." We nodded. "Good, now follow me it will take us at least forty minutes, but it's only," he looked at the clock, "six thirty."

We trudged through snow like it was hot coals, why, because there was a lot of it, where we had to go was through the woods, and we didn't want our shoes getting snow on the inside. I didn't have that problem really but seeing them do it made me do it.

We were all lucky, from what I know we've all been on the rode awhile, walking. Thanks to all the walking our feet have grown used to it. I think if I were to run the three mile race at my school I could probably beat Trevor Danner, he was the fastest kid in our school, Trevor ran the mile in five minutes and twenty-two seconds last year, and he's been jogging with me a lot, well let me rephrase that, he use to jog with me a lot. I hated remembering the old times, back when I was in school. It made me want to turn back and just go home. However I knew going home wasn't an option, my dad was missing, but I needed to stay safe, I'll search for him somehow but I don't know anything so until then I need to be trained.

We stopped to camp out, Damien said the only way we'd find the place were looking for, which was right down the hill we were on, the only way we'd it was when it was two hours after midnight. I hefted my bow off my shoulders and was glad I was able to find a way to conceal it during our train ride. I grabbed out my staff and made it extend to its full length, it gleamed silver in the moonlight.

"Damien." I said quietly, "will I be able to work on my bow and staff at that safe place you were talking about?" I asked.

"Predicous, there's a lot you'll be able to do there, I mean you will still have to do normal school things like English, Math, and Social studies, and you can pick to do a few other things, but the things you don't pick just gives you more time to train. I'm taking Algebra 3, World History, and English 3. Now the English courses they actually have to do with English to help your mind see it better, or well a half-blood's mind that is. You'll learn about the place when we get there, till then just rest." He pulled out one of the duffle bags and started on our tent, Keri and Dom helped.

"I guess I'll go and get us some fire wood, and I'll keep first watch." I said to everyone while I grabbed a few tools to get wood. It was extremely easy, the snow melted slowly as I stepped on it, and I found a few small branches just lying around so I picked those up, and then I began chopping at a small tree, just like how I did when it was just Damien and I.

When I showed up at our campsite everyone was already getting ready to go to sleep, everyone except Keri. Above us there was a full moon, light bounced off the snow showing everything. I fell down when I reached the spot where I was supposed to start our fire. I had a flashback only it wasn't mine.

A familiar female voice called out to me, I/Predicurseus was kneeling under a full moon, "Predicurseus!" it was Lady Artemis.

"Lady Artemis, why do you plead for this creature's name." a deep voice spat, "He is nothing but the same as the rest of the Nyphilim, he has no right to live."

After that I was pulled back into reality, Keri was knelt over me, eyes wide. Such beautiful eyes she had.

"It's alright." I assured her in a soft voice.

"I really hope so, your eyes went completely white besides your iris which was such a bright blue it was hard to tell the difference."

"Whoa! Say that again?" I was completely dumbfounded.

"Your eyes weren't normal, something is going on." She gave me a look that I couldn't recognize.

"It doesn't matter, im going to sleep." I arranged the fire wood better and lit them up, and while I sat there I wondered if the flames could hurt me. I remembered times when I'd funnel the lighter fluid and then light it creating a ball of flame larger than my hand. No one else could really do it and hold it how I did. Slowly I started pushing my hand towards the fire, once my right hand was there I winced thinking I was going to get burned, all that happened was a little tingling feeling, power.

Inside the tent they were all spread across the tent not leaving really any room for me, I sighed, and whispered "well thanks for leaving me some room guys, ha, ha."

"Predicous, you can sleep next to me, I don't mind." It was Keri, bleary eyed pointed a flashlight at me.

"Umm," I blushed, "you sure?"

She laughed quietly, "yes, I'm sure, its fine really quit being a baby." She scooted a little leaving room in her sleeping bag, the bag she had could fit almost three people in it, I got it for whoever was going to use it.

I walked over to her and laid by her turning my back to her. She sighed and I felt her turn her back to me. It was uncomfortable. I couldn't sleep on my right side it felt to awkward. Slowly I turned onto my back and turned my head towards hers, I couldn't help myself, I ran my hand through her hair and then she turned around.

"Oh, uh, did I wake you?" I asked dumbly.

"No" she said, and from the moon above I could see her smiling, "it actually felt kind of good."

I laughed nervously, "well good." She stayed facing me on her side and then something I wasn't expecting, she took her arm placed it over me and laid her head on my chest, it made me feel giddy.

In the morning my eyes slowly opened, I could feel the scar on my back still healing, and my eyes were looking at Keri's hair, only I wasn't on my back I was on my left side my arms wrapped around her.

"Predicous are you and Keri dating or something?" Dom asked me with a smile, the smile wasn't a nice one, more like a make fun of smile.

I laughed nervously, "there wasn't any room and I wasn't about to cuddle up with you or Damien." I said with a sneer

"Well that's all good but, you're still cuddling with her."

"Your hopeless Dom, but no we're not dating."

"Yeah and your still holding her?" I wanted to tackle him. But I pulled my arms away from Keri and stood up, suddenly I was light headed and I felt pretty weird.

"Let's pack up."

"Damien and I already did that, we even took the liberty of taking a picture of you and Keri sleeping together." He said with a smirk on his face.

I felt my face go totally red.

"You'd do good to delete it." I said flatly. He laughed at me and walked out of the tent I guess to give us some privacy, I woke up Keri telling her nothing, I was too embarrassed. "Keri wake up, were about to go home."

She smiled at me, "ya know, I think that fire thing you have keeps your body warm, so thanks for keeping me warm last night."

"Uh, yeah anytime." I was really embarrassed now. I walked out of the tent in time to watch it fall on Keri. I laughed. "So you guys tried to trap us, huh." I looked at Dom and Damien. But it wasn't Dom and Damien who'd done it, standing behind them were to huge guys with knives at their throats. Keri was struggling to get out, I didn't know what to do, these guys were huge, they had spikes on both their shoulders, the middle of their heads, and smaller spikes on their knuckles.

The giant holding Damien laughed, "Good satyr eating Gréyton, glad to be back." He sniffed Damien, I could see Damien tense up ready for a fight, but I gave him a look.

"Yes brother, great to be back, been too long." he looked worried, confused, and nervous, "What is Derith dong? We have more visitors."

Finally I heard screaming coming from the tent, the one named Derith had a hold of Keri. "Keri stop screaming, we're all in danger here."

"What are they saying?" Damien asked me, his giant was sniffing around, and looking at me with a lot of hatred.

"I know the smell of that blood." He dropped Damien and started walking towards me, suddenly his knife became a large blood red broad-sword the pommel had a ruby in the bottom and there was a symbol engraved at the base of the blade where it met with the pommel. "Draw thy sword."

"Predicous what the hell are they saying!" Damien Yelled this time. I looked over at Dom and the giant Gréyton had sat down to watch still holding him.

"You can't tell what they're saying?" I asked while backing up.

"NO! I can't , the language is too old for me to recognize." He said back at me.

I tripped over something, my staff. I reached and picked it up, making it extend to its full length, "What are you!" I yelled to the giant.

"You know." And then he started running after me, his brothers both let go of their captives and started walking hungrily towards me. The only thing I could do was run. Fear had crept into my body and I fell over some logs I had dropped down the other night, Gréyton slowed down, trying to prolong the moment, slashing his sword left and right. He smiled at me showing me a row of teeth that were chipped and crooked. His bright eyes had a gleam that showed he loved this. "Never thought you'd be easy to kill, I expected more from a prince." He laughed gleefully.

Damien, Ker, and Dom all ran around the brothers and in front of me quicker than I thought would be possible. Gréyton looked behind him and let out a loud sigh.

The look on the giants face was amusement. I stood up, feeling something tug at me, it was the fire inside, "Damien lead them to that place you were talking about."

"What? No, what about you?" he sounded worried and hurt.

"Damien, it was nice journeying with you, but they are after me not you, you _need_ to lead Keri and Dom to safety, if I can I will get around them and sprint after you but if not then…"

He shook his head and told Keri and Dom, I heard Keri screaming at me calling me many names, Dom's head was downturned and he was crying. Damien took them and went around Gréyton and his brothers.

The smaller brother, Derith, was about to follow them, and until Gréyton said, "Brother do not follow them, I've a feeling this young blood wants to fight all of us, shall we see how long he will last?"

My staff started getting hot from the heat I was putting off, and I was letting tension build up underneath me. The ground itself started feeling like it was melting. "Hey!"

"What is it Névaar?" Gréyton sighed

The brother Névaar complained, "He's not normal prince, something is inside of him." As soon as they each turned back to me I let the tension go, it sent me flying into the air higher than ever, flames shot out from my hands giving me more of a flight boost.

"We will see you again prince!" I heard Gréyton yell out.

A huge smile spread across my face as I realized I was sort of flying, well that is until I starting falling towards a large dock. The flames had stopped, and I was hurtling towards a dock that was about the size of small trailer-home. I closed my eyes. _SMACK!_ I hit ice and went into water, first thought, _hey I'm not dead,_ second thought, _oh crap I'm gonna freeze._ I pushed up from the water and swam where I impacted. There was a steaming, gaping hole in the ice the size of a small bed. As soon as I got to the ground (dry ground), I spotted Damien sprinting towards the dock, followed by Keri and Dom. I didn't think I could be so happy.

"Hey I made it just in time." I shouted. They were all gasping for air and oxygen, and even though it was almost freezing outside they were all sweating.

"Predicous, you alive!" Dom exclaimed.

"Well of course I'm alive you dimwit." I said happily to him showing him it was good to see him.

Keri as always had tears in her eyes, and a simple smile across her face, Damien on the other hand had no pants on, revealing his hairy uh legs…you know because he's a satyr. But I gotta say he was moving really fast for a dude with hooves, and when he saw me, he said nothing only went past me, stopped, and opened up a door of some kind, like a cellar door.

"Damien I was already beneath the water it's all just water."

"Yeah well come over here." He said back, we all walked over to him and saw that inside of the door he opened, stairs made their way down. Damien flipped a switch and started walking down the steps. Lights turned on, and below I could almost see something but I wasn't sure what it was, it was beneath water, it was some kind of submarine. We followed him deeper down the stairs getting closer to where the submerged vehicle thing was at. Along the walls were things that I had never seen before, things that looked like alien suits, like the suit was decorated with these weird techno designs and there was this thing kind of like a hood.

"So uh, what's with all the alien stuff? Is it like that area fifty-one thing?" Dom said speaking what was on my mind.

"Well no, they did find this stuff once and thought it was aliens but no, the Hephaestus kids made them along with the naiads." Damien answered like it was an obvious thing.

"The what kids made naiads? Isn't that some kind of air freshener?" Dom laughed out.

"Ugh. No. We don't have time for this everyone you need to grab one of those and get in the Speedy, underwater, transportation, submarine."

"You might as well just call it SUTS. Its way shorter and easier to say." Keri said smartly.

"Yeah that's nice, get in." he was already putting on the weird costume thing, and when he put on the hood it shaped to his face and at first I thought he couldn't breathe until I saw this thing at the mouth of the hood part and he plunged into the water. For being a goat-boy he sure was pretty brave, he was kind of the opposite of that satyr dude in _Percy Jackson and the Olympians: the lightning thief._

The rest of us followed his lead and put the suits on and then each of us slowly went into the water. We saw Damien disappear in some kind of hole in the SUTS, and again we followed him. Once we were inside it was lined with lights, buttons, and at the front there were these coffin like things, they looked like those tanning beds you'd get in only they were clear.

"let me guess, the Hephaestus kids made this to?" I asked while taking off the alien costume, Keri and Dom did likewise and Damien's was already off and hanging on a hook where we put ours.

"Well yes and no," Damien was pushing buttons looking through things and just I guess doing the preparations, "it was a group project, I'll tell you more about it when we arrive at the island, which is kind of in the middle of The Gulf of Mexico. Right now though you all need to get in those bed things, there's a button that'll close the lid of the bed, and when we hit land there will be a scent in the bed that will put you to sleep and then scent and a noise that will wake you." After that he said nothing else to us. Keri and Dom both reluctantly lied down in the beds which closed on them. I made my way slowly over to the bed closest the command control center. Damien was looking at a screen the same screen that looked out into the body of water, only the water was gone and a map was up. At first it was just the map of the world in kind of a Google Earth view only I could see extra looking areas; such as extended parts of states or islands. Damien zoomed in where the Gulf of Mexico was but I didn't feel like watching anymore it was…weird. I opened the lid of the bed and right away I felt tired, the inside was a soft blue color, there was a lump that looked uncomfortable until I felt it, it was like a pillow, the lump went down in the shape of my hand and it felt amazing.

I saw where the button was and then got in the bed, but before closing I looked around me and saw Damien close his lid. I sat there and let memories catch up with me, the times I spent in town running around with my friends calling my dad to ask if I could stay the night and then stay outside the whole night doing what was called "Parkour", my friend Nathan Savigano told me two years before we started actually doing it that it was where you'd go from point A to point B doing tricks and just acrobatic kind of things. I remembered times in my house when my dad would yell at me for fights, or when I'd help him build something outside. I could see back when my friends and I would take wood sticks and see who could win in a sword fight, well sticks or light-saber toys. I could remember all the Christmas's I had with my family, when sometimes during the summer I would stay either at my aunts or at my grandpas. So many memories flooded into me, my eyes started tearing up, I decided then that I would start a new life if I so had to. After that I finally closed the lid and lay my head down.

It's a weird thing being asleep with no dreams, maybe I'll wake up and the whole thing would have been just a dream. Maybe I'll wake up and look around me to see that my same old room is still there and I'm in the same old bed. Nope not a likely thing to happen, anyway, in that large bed thing I felt peaceful, like nothing mattered I could sleep forever in the cool bed thing. Suddenly there was some kind of scent, like maple syrup, biscuits and pancakes, my favorite foods. And then there was this really annoying sound like a bass hitting my eardrums, in either way it sure woke me up and put me in a bad mood.

I looked around me forgetting for a moment I was safe in some bed thing, I thrashed for a moment and then saw a glowing purple button that was the Greek sign for omega ( ) I pressed it not sure what would really happen. The lid of the coffin-bed opened up and around me I saw Damien, Keri, and Dom getting out of their bed things as well, I also saw ahead through the screens, a large opening in what looked like an island.

Damien walked over to the screen and switched something to where we were looking now at the ocean, it wasn't anything you could imagine, and even though it was dirty it still looked magnificent. It was clear but hazy, and you could see fish, sharks, all of the kinds of sea life, only a few things seemed at odds. We were getting closer to what looked like a sort of hanger or the same thing we came from only bigger, and around us I could see females, under water, wearing normal clothes, and good God were they hot.

"Try not to think too much about them, it encourages them to flirt with you and you can't breathe underwater so I suggest you don't flirt." Damien seemed to order it instead of suggest it but I didn't care, if there were underwater hotties, there'd have to be good looking girls here as well. We "parked" the SUTS into some kind of holding thing, they reminded me of a huge, gigantic vice grip. And then we put on our amazing alien costumes and through ourselves out into the water, where one of the sea girls had swam up, said something and gave me a leaf, yes a leaf, however it looked like it had numbers on it so I wondered if that meant she gave me her number, lucky me right. Meanwhile Dom loved it more than anyone else did, he'd look from one thing, to the next, point to one thing, then another. However one look at Keri told me she hated being in the water, her face was a lighter shade and had a greenish tint to it making her look ghostly. I wondered if she was afraid of the water or something else in the water. We traveled to an above ground building where large columns held a square roof. After working a few steps we were on a deck and late at night, the stars shone bright in thy sky illuminating the area around the perimeter. A crescent moon was high in the sky showing a light on something that took my breath, I six story high wall went from one way to another off far in the distance. But from even as far away from it as we were I could feel a sort of energy around it.

"Now that's a big wall," I began to say when Dom whistled, "biggest I've ever seen."

Dom made a quick laugh and then said, "I've seen bigger, The Hoover Dam."

"That's just a Dam, it doesn't count as being a wall, and hey Damien I just thought of something, when I saved you all sort-a-speak we forgot to say if I got a point or not?"

Damien rolled his eyes, "Yes you get a point," he stopped then added, "but just you wait I'll win this little game." We all laughed and walked towards the large wall. At the top you could see sentries posted at tower tops and a bugle was sounded. At first I thought they were calling an army of archers to shoot us down but part of the wall shuddered and then pushed out a little and moved back revealing a large open area. Two enormous dudes walked from the opening and I swear they had to duck not to hit their heads. They both carried what looked to me like huge spoons with a big rock in it, a carry size catapult. If you've ever taken the tip of the spoon with food on the inside of it and then bend the tip back well that's what these guys were doing. They had helmets the size of a car and it seemed like neither of them could really see through them, and they had something that looked like armor only it was a deep brown color like tree-bark.

I was about to pull out whatever weapon I had with me but Damien put his hand on my arm, "Damien look at them, they don't look like a welcoming committee."

He laughed and said, "Those are Ogres, their names are, Togrin, and Bogrin. They protect these walls. There are four of them actually, Togrin, Bogrin, Melgrin, and Velgrin. They all walk around the perimeter and," he looked over at them and they seemed to be readying there spoons of death, "hold on. Hey whoa, don't throw those, Bogrin, Togrin, remove your helmets and look at us before you kill us, you should know who I am since I am the one who asked for you all to be the great guardians of the wall."

They slowly took their fingers off the tip and pushed a button sending a cap on the spoon, almost at the same time. Then as they got closer, well, you could really smell them. The big smelly on the right talked first, but his helmet muffled the sound.

"What was that?" Damien asked him, "Oh take your helmet off you big gloat."

He took his helmet off as did his brother and on his face was a huge grin with oil smeared all over his face, "little goat boy." The big smelly had a weird accent that seemed to be Scottish combined with a really gruff voice, it was hard to make out, "Wher've you been at?"

"I had to go searching remember Bogrin," Damien looked at me then bag at the big guy, Bogrin was in range now and was blocking the sun shading us in his enormity, "The director told me something was terribly wrong and to go in the direction of the path, only the path disappeared and I was chased by a hellhound, at least twelve leagues."

"Twelve you say?" he put his hand and rubbed his chin, and smiled again revealing rows of green jagged teeth.

"Well you are now back, you must be more careful, little goat-boy, let us escert you behind the walls in safety." He had looked up when he said escert, I wondered what he meant, and then Damien helped me.

"Bogrin its escort, but I'm proud of you, is Haven teaching you both how to read?"

The other one answered, Togrin, as soon as Bogrin had his finger up to explain something, "He has! He has! We talk much better now, like we can both say, gigantic, and enormous, and Skunk, and…" Bogrin interrupted him.

"He knows, Togrin. Togrin is still working on it, Haven teaches us bout every day, err—a week?" I do not know.

"Well we are in a deep hurry Bogrin, if you'd please take us in."

"Sure thing, sure thing." They both said at the same time. They stooped us each up, not something I wanted to happen, I mean, I'm sorry an all but dear gods they smelled awful. I watched Dom and Keri both puke down at the ground, by guess the ogres probably thought it was the height but Damien and I both knew it was the smell. We entered the first part of the wall which Bogrin pushed a button and the very large door that had opened in the beginning quickly shut. We started walking up a ramp and well it a really thick wall, as we kept walking I saw a door ahead and then when I looked down I saw that we were standing on a bridge, below us was water.

The ogre-brothers both stopped and pushed another button, instead of it being like the other door this one slid back and then up, then light flooded into the tunnel nearly blinding us.

Now if you've ever seen movies about all that Greek stuff, they were just about right. There were buildings with giant pillars holding them together. There was all kinds of things around us, and as far as the eye could see the wall we came out wet all the way around the _"little island". _Even though we were on a very large hill and high up in ogre hands the end of the island was out of sight. The brothers set us down and said good bye to us laughing about something. Below us I could see a forest and then small woods, lots of woods, even though this was an island there were no modern looking buildings. The three of us followed Damien down to stairs that led down the hill, while we walked down the long steps I took out my watch from one of my bags, something I hadn't done in a long time, the watch read 5:28, Saturday, Feb 6th _._ When we made it to the bottom I saw a farm area and people working on it suddenly a thought hit me. _I'm not cold. There isn't any snow on the ground! Their crops are growing! _I had been so enveloped in my thoughts of how amazing it was I hadn't thought of the natural things outside of this place.

"We don't get bad types of weather." Damien said answering my question without me even asking it.

"Wow. This really is like that one book I read." I said silently to myself. The author of the _Percy Jackson and the Olympians,_ got things extremely close it made me wonder if he was here in the place.

Damien walked us to looked what looked like stables, "what exactly are we doing?" I asked him curiously.

"These fields, stables, and just the whole area isn't some farmers place Predicous, a lot of the demi-gods come out here to work the fields, and clean the stables and the horses and such. So we are going to use the horses." He said it with a gleam in his eye. We walked further and then went inside of the stable area, I caught my breath, I was looking into the dark eyes of a deep brown horse with wings, "They are actually called…"

"Oh my God, a Pegasus!" Keri yelled with delight, she and Dom hadn't talked the whole way down, none of us really did. The winged animals stirred in the stalls, a few neighs were let out. "That is so awesome."

"As I was saying they are called Pegasí." Damien looked annoyed, "_The_ Pegasus is way too impossible to capture, he mates with many horses on your mortal world and boom there's the Pegasí." They each walked around but I stayed in front of the one that I first laid eyes on. I opened the lock to the stall and stepped in.

"Hey uh, Predicous, that one hasn't been rightly trained yet or anything. The ones that are trained and tamed are in this section the ones that aren't or in the one you're in, and from what I understand…" Damien went quiet as nothing was happening. My eyes stayed in the eyes of large brown Pegasí, like I was in a trance by her, she flapped her wings but I didn't move in fear, I stepped back to let her know I meant her no harm and then I heard Damien's footsteps. She put her head up in his direction in a motion that was spectacular. I stepped out of the stall and bumped into Damien, the look in his eyes were confused and surprised.

"What?" I asked him giving him the "_I didn't do it"_ look.

"Either they've trained her, or she likes you." He said to me, "Damien and Keri both found the Pegasí they are going to ride upstairs, you can do the same." It was like he was thinking about something else.

I was about to walk that way but I heard the brown Pegasí start neighing loudly, an then she let out a really loud neigh. Damien went to open the stall door like I did but as soon as he was in he was sent flying over the opening of the door and into the wall laid out with stirrups, it had to of hurt, but that was when I understood what he meant.

"That Damn Peg face never lets anyone in, how you did it was a miracle, especially since you lasted more than 5 minutes!" he turned to the Pegasí and yelled "screw you! You hooved untamed brown nose!" The Pegasí let out a neighing sound that made it sound like she was laughing.

"Yeah go ahead and laugh you ungrateful bloat." Damien stormed off back up the stairs with me behind him looking back at her, she was amazing was all I was thinking. He showed me tan Pegasí, it wasn't as good as the one that flung Damien out of the stall but I decided to come check her out later.

"This one will work but…I want to come here like tomorrow, you know look around." I said to Damien as we mounted up on the Pegasí.

"I'll have Haven take you here then, maybe you can get some training before school starts back up." He said plainly, clearly to mad to read my emotions. "I'll have to get you enlisted in the school, unless you don't plan on going to a college or anything, I can do that tonight, just have to talk to the director about it first and he'll get you set up with whatever classes you need, and in case you're wondering, he looks at the old transcripts from your other school(s)."

We walked out to a landing and Damien first told us how to ride the Pegasí, "It's just like riding a normal horse, you lean, you pull, you lean, you pull, but these things can understand you quite a lot better than normal horses so when you want to go down just yell down and they'll go that way for you. Also, when you rein in…just be careful and well good luck, oh and follow me."

We followed him into the air, another memory flooded into my mind. My dad held a _MOPAR _thing a couple years back and it was at a park filled with horses. We each were able to ride the horses through the trails, the guy that was with us said I was a natural, however my cousin Amber wasn't so lucky. During that day it turned out she peed on the poor horse because she laughed to hard. I remember doing an easy trot, then a canter, and then a full out sprint. It was one of my best memories. Reality came back to me and the Tan horse and I were set farther away from everyone else so like my memory I had to set this thing to full so we could catch up. The feeling of being in the air with no ground touching was completely unnerving but I held to it. The Tan horse, who I named Indy, did exactly what I wanted. We were speeding off towards Keri, Damien, and Dom. they made a look of surprise when they saw me pass them.

I couldn't take it the feeling was too great, a temptation was arriving at a standstill in me making me take Indy straight up, and then it whinnied nervously so I let it take us back to Damien, party pooper. Damien looked at me angrily and then after five minutes of silence he yelled over to us.

"Take them down there to those stables." He pointed and we each understood. I wanted badly to take Indy in the air to do a nose dive but something told me he couldn't handle it. I slowly brought Indy down to the ground it was real easy to but Dom had more trouble, as did Keri, they tried to get their Pegasí slow to a steady trot like I did but they couldn't do it. Soon after they got down Damien walked to us and brought us around to a view that again made me catch my breath.

Behind the stable was an extremely large building, it resembled a castle, I hadn't paid much attention to the surroundings on the ground when we were in the air but now that I saw this I was appalled.

"Dude, that is so awesome you guys have a castle!" Dom exclaimed with a giant smile on his face.

"Um, it's not exactly a castle but I guess you could call it that. It's the school, and it is also the chambers and living quarters of many half-bloods, but most the half-bloods chose to live in the buildings out by the Theatre."

"You guys have a move theatre?" Keri asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Sort of, the theatre can be used for that but we mostly have other things go on that you'll learn more about when you guys get a tour guide I have other things to do but first I will introduce you to our Island director." Damien replied to her. Keri looked a little ashamed but she still followed, we all did. Being like me isn't easy, I was real antsy, hopping around, and having a million thoughts go through my mind.

We arrived at a large office, Damien knocked on a closed door to his left. I was talking to Dom about how schools are always lousy and slow and then I heard a familiar voice call out to us.

"It's open."

Damien licked his lips nervously, so I took his spot and stepped in with him, Keri, and Dom coming in behind me. At first I didn't realize who it was because of the gigantic bifocals on his face. His face held a heavy beard and on the top of his head were two very large horns, it was a bull. And then he looked up and raises his eyebrows at me, and then his eyes went wide and he stood up.

"Whoa, Predicous, hey! Whoa, wait why are you here?"

"He is here because of me." Damien pushed through standing next to me. "Mr. Grey, I brought him here, he's not a half-blood, but he sees through the haze, and there's something else about him I just haven't pin-pointed it yet." At first I thought it was a different Mr. Grey, but then I remembered his voice and I felt my own eyes go wide.

"Sir could you please change back to human form because that form is kind of trippy." I said to him, staring at his horns.

"Yes Predicous I understand what I look like but while I am safe here from humans I am safe from those damned crutches." He looked up at the ceiling like it was going to answer him instead of me, "on second thought…" He suddenly changed his form and then his crutches were next to him, "OK, now let's tour the school."

"Sir are you a, a Minotaur?" Dom asked him, fear in his eyes.

"Why young demi-god I am, are you scared?"

"Nope." Dom changed his look into a look of courage, until it melted away, "a little bit." He said honestly.

"Well good, there aren't very many Minotaurs like me, they…"

"Whoa there's more than one?" I asked him eyes wide.

"Yes not many more but still enough, I believe I have twenty three brothers and thirteen sisters all kind of like me only I have reason, logic, compassion, a bigger brain and the ability to see."

"Mr. Grey, I would have them toured around the area first so they can find a place to stay tonight instead of the infirmary. While we find someone to do that, you and I can get them each listed in the school and put them in other activities." It seemed more like Damien was in charge of everything than the director.

Mr. Grey seemed to ponder the reasoning of it all and then let out an exasperated sigh, "what would I do without you, you're a great teacher's pet" he let out a laugh knowing it was a good pun considering Damien was a satyr, "anyway that is all good, I'll uh try an see if I can get three of the Hermes kids to come down from their nap and help us out, send them each in a different direction, just make sure your pockets and such have the same items in them." He said to all of us. We walked outside to the front of the building which we found out the stable was in the back. Sitting on a bench we waited to see what would happen, a few people walked by us holding books, or carrying swords, off in the distance I spotted Haven swinging down from a zip-line until the cord somehow caught fire and he was about to fall. He grabbed on the cord and swung on it like he was Tarzan. I was going to make sure my tour guide would take me in that general direction, I had spoken to Haven and David one of the nights I was journeying and they talked about something, a teacher missing.

"Hey newbies how's it going." Some tall college guy said to us.

"Todd, man, ferreal, newbies? Sorry guys, I'm Nathan. That guy is Todd.

"And I'm Jackson." Said this other guy who was running up to us, he carried something with him, a map maybe?

"Yeah, anyway, Grey told us you all needed to be toured around the area and then assigned somewhere to sleep until we find out a few things, like who your godly parents are." Nathan looked at us each expectantly, none of really knew what he was talking about and then I remembered something.

"Hey, how do we know who are godly parents are." I said looking at Dom.

Todd replied first, "a little symbol of some sort glows above your head"

"Ok, so whose symbol is the one with the sleeping moon?"

"OH! That's Hypnos." Nathan said, "Are you a son of Hypnos?" he asked me.

"Well no, but Dom is." I smiled at myself knowing I just helped him out. He looked at me and smiled back.

"Alright, well that's one, two to go, let's get on with the tour I have things to do." Todd said clapping his hands. He looked expectantly at Keri who just turned her head in the direction of the nearest bathroom.

Jackson took me.

Todd took Keri.

Nathan took Dom.

We each headed in a direction talking about something and learning about the area and what it was about. The whole time Jackson toured me he wrote things down, I wasn't sure what he was doing exactly but it seemed slightly important. We strode along a side walk the led to many different buildings. However we had to go almost a good mile until we reached the end of the school when we did I noticed the shape the castle/school was in, it was in the shape of the omega symbol. Anyway back to the present, we walked by many buildings, Jackson told me what many of them were, when they were, and just about everything, like he told me the Island was created by all the gods, and that there were many other schools, not as big as the one on this Island but still the same, and then he mumbled something about Roman's and began writing things down again. He told me where things were before we went to them, like the lake, and the stables. We walked down to a place where smoke came out of a chimney, and he told me that it was the armory and that some people would make their own weapons or some, like him, would just have a friend who was from the Hephaestus cabin make some. I asked him what kind of weapons and he told me that the armory consisted of a few types of shops, an armory shop, a black smith shop, metal shop, wood shop, crafts shop. That explained why it was so large, but most the buildings in the area no matter what they were, were large.

A heaving Haven made his way up to me, breathless, hair blown back. Haven looked almost different the slender form he used to have was practically gone, it looked like he piled some meat on his bones, a slight tone of muscle could be shown through the outfit he wore.

"Had to catch up, and talk to you," he said between breaths, "I'll take it from here." He sucked in a bunch of air so he could show he was ready.

"Are you sure Haven, I mean you look like you just sprinted all the way from the school?" Jackson told him with a look of worry.

"I got it bro," Haven said to him, "go and take that test you've been meaning to take."

Jackson replied, "Kay, well thanks." He then handed me what was in his hands, a pamphlet he made about everything so I had something to look through incase I got lost. I told him thanks and looked at Haven again, still a slender form he had grown a few extra inches. His facial features could show the training his been through, he look more confident, but still looked like the smart, cunning Haven who plans out anything.

We walked in silence, him leading, me following beside him. Being there with him was almost weird considering he had kept this information from me, it was vital that I knew, since I had run away anyway and been chased by monsters the whole way there. But thinking through it I knew Haven wouldn't have known something like that would have happened. He turned to say something and then another really friendly, familiar voice broke the long friendship of silence.

"Hey guys! Great to be reunited right?" David said smiling, "It's a damn good thing your finally here, Haven is a horrible partner at kings of the hill." He smirked at Haven.

"Hey! It wasn't me who slipped halfway up and then got caught." Haven said to him.

I laughed and said, "You both are crazy, what is this "kings of the hill" thing?"

Haven replied first, "Kings of the hill, well basically you get a partner and you have to go through a bunch of things, just the two of you, and then you have to reach to the top of the small mountain, hill, whatever you want to call it…"

David interrupted him, "And you then have to battle your partner on top the hill, see who wins and take the flag that is there and replace it with your own flag. The flag pole is an expandable pole it goes from being half a foot long to five foot, and your banner you make on your own, it can resemble any type of symbol you want."

Haven looked at David and then back at me, "It sounds easy how David is putting it but you seriously have to battle other people. It's sort of a battle field when you go down there, but instead of it being two sides, it's just partners against partners. Also the field covers like half the island, the Island itself is about the size of eight Troy's put together, and im not talking about just the city part, I mean including the country parts of Troy. But we don't exactly have a bunch of modern houses and buildings out here, there are few buildings out here actually…"

"Ok, ok," I said getting antsy again, "let's go do something, like tour me around some more instead of standing in front of a temple with a bunch of tall, giant statues of people on it."

"Oh that's the temple of the gods." David said to me, "but yeah I guess we should get a move on." He smiled brightly.

We walked further and ran into Dom and Nathan, who passed something to David, when he did David's face went beat white, and when I was going to ask him what it was he changed his expression back to the same optimistic one he held before the paper. That showed me the choir building, the theatre (might as well call it a coliseum) they told me they held all kinds of things down there, like small skirmishes, one on one fights. It was also a practice area for training but whenever someone would want a duel or the director had scheduled a skirmish they'd clear away things and put down whatever it was they needed.

It seemed like a cool thing to me, and it was the third biggest building, which made me wonder if the first one was the castle-school, and what the other one could have been.

They walked me into the coliseum and showed me around, they should be some of the barricades that could retract down below them. David said there were two basements, the machine room, and the equipment/armor room. I'd have to check those out sometime Haven had whispered to me silently as we walked through a courtyard. They didn't just have old Greek buildings though, at the courtyard there was a basket-ball court, a tennis court, a football field, and a volley-ball court.

"So you guys have school sports?" I asked them.

"Yep sure do, Haven was to chicken to join any of the sports but I joined tennis."

I fell over laughing, thinking how tennis was a really girly sport but I said nothing, David looked at me like I was a nut. "You have to understand though Predicous, these sports are not normal school sports. Because we are half-bloods, things are…upped, testier. You'll just have to see."

So that meant the sports weren't normal, I didn't see how sports could be up higher in the danger level, especially for tennis, I mean you naturally have balls flying at you so it's crazy already but still a girly sport.

They led me around the rest of the area telling me there were more parts of the place but I'd have to figure it out myself.

"Oh Haven, I was wondering if tomorrow, if you could take me to the training stables down near the front gate?" I looked at him expectantly.

Haven rolled his eyes, "Yeah sure, meet me at the stables behind the school we'll take one of the Pegasí back over there." Behind Haven a few girls walked up to us, one shouldered David playfully and the other one walked around Haven and looked me up and down.

"Who's he?" she said, "I don't think I've ever seen him before, is he knew?"

"Monica, Yeah he's new, just got here today. I've been touring him around. He's one of my best friends." He didn't look to happy, and he emphasized _"best friend". _Monica had tan silky skin, the same striking gray eyes, reddish brown hair with lighter blonde highlights

"She's my sister on my mom's side," he said looking at me, and then turned to her, "Predicous isn't your type Monica."

"Haven, why should it matter if I date any of your friends or not?" I thought she was going to stop but then I saw a light change in her eyes, "Haven you do know that, Rachel likes you." She whispered it and looked at the cute red head that was pretty much standing in the sidelines holding a book under her nose. She didn't look up when Monica mentioned her name to Haven but you could see behind the book she lightly blushed, Haven blushed brightest though and he was at a complete loss for words.

"yeah that's what I thought." She said smiling. I let out a low chuckle and Haven shot me a look of irritation.

"Well we should get going, Predicous needs to find a place to stay awhile until he finds a permanent spot or until the App choosing." He kissed the girl that shouldered him, and we headed back towards the school, Monica batted her eyelashes and lightly touched my arm.

"See ya later stranger."

I winked back, and followed David and Haven down the marble path to the school. I hadn't realized how close we were to the school, I'd been so involved in my thoughts of the surrounding structures that I'd forgotten about my journey and where I was going to be staying.

"Hey where am I supposed to stay I mean it's already almost dark out and I still don't know where I'm staying at." I complained.

"Well that's what we're going to figure out." David explained.

We went through the side entrance, passing through a different looking building. The outside of the school looked like a castle but just about every section of the inside was a separate design, and finally we entered what looked more like a lobby then a commons area.

"If you're wondering if this is the commons area it's, not we have a lot of sections and areas in this school, this is like a hotel floor, it's the lobby part of the school, and has almost six rooms in it. You'll most likely be staying in one since you're a special case." Haven told me, "but first we have to talk to one of the assistant directors."

"That's fine I guess." I said back to him.

"Hey bright side you won't have a roommate." David said to me trying to cheer me up. Haven must have found what he was looking for because he opened a door that showed a small oval office similar to the one that Mr. Gray had. A really young female was sitting over the desk, she looked about normal, nothing weird was with her except one thing, as she leaned down to look closer at something on a sheet of paper her hair which smelt faintly of flowers flowed further down on her face revealing small pointed ears.

"Um." I said trying not to look uncomfortable.

David whispered in my ear, "That's Ms. Una, her first name is Póllisephone."

He looked at me and then said, "She's an Elf."

I tried not to laugh, and I thought I did pretty well until the Elf said, "Young Predicous, we Elf's are very in tough with emotions, therefore giving us the power of empathy." I looked at her with confusion and she raised her head, "That means we can read other beings emotions."

"Ma'am I know what that means. I'm confused as to how you know my name." I said trying to add respect behind my tone, it worked, "It seems as though everyone I don't know that is a more supreme being knows my name."

"Elf's are not supreme beings we are just more in-tune with our surroundings and senses, however I learned your name through Haven and David." She looked at them and they nodded their heads, "another ability elf's have is reading minds, however we have to have permission from the other being, our cousins do not wait for permission however, they just found the right door to the beings mind or they break the walls, which is something you most likely will be trained in protecting yourself from."

Suddenly I felt a presence going towards my mind. It was soft like Aldwin's. The feeling was different though, instead the presence felt younger. I knew it wasn't him and I could feel the probe trying to get in, I let it in the first wall but built up a scenery wall like a mosaic that would confuse whoever it was that was trying to get in. With the presence in the first wall I allowed it to speak.

"Who are you?" I questioned lightly.

"That is very interesting, contact, yet not full contact." I realized it was the Elf. "I was only testing you Predicous, it seems you barely need training, however I've never came across someone who made a different section only for speech. You are blocking off memories, and thoughts and emotions, and…"

"Ma'am I understand how fascinated you are, but my mind is only so strong, it's taking a lot of my energy to keep this connection, so if you'd please." I wanted her out of my mind. I was only use to Aldwin's presence in there.

"Yes I will, I'm sorry, I was just curious to see if you would let me in." she said apologetically.

Looking at the time I realized that the conversation had only taken but a minute, when if we had said all the things in direct speech it would have at least taken ten minutes. She closed off the connection. Haven and David both looked at me expectantly, and after I quickly told them that she entered my mind they tried cheering me up by saying that she normally does that to anyone she meets so she can learn more about them.

"You may sleep in the room across from this one. It's been vacant for some time…" she looked through the window to her left, "In any case bathroom supplies; toothbrush, toothpaste, shaving supplies, shampoo and conditioner, and towel, will be brought to your room by one of our janitors, anything else you need just come and ask me." We thought she was done but she added, "Haven, or you David need to take him to the Island Barber after he showers of course, Predicous make yourself at home until we figure out what to do with you." She said it with a kind smile but I could tell she wanted dearly to learn more about me, but didn't want to insult me or say anything of it in front of David and Haven, trying to protect my privacy.

We walked to the room she had insisted on, leaving her to whatever papers she was observing, they must have been grading papers or something. I opened the door, and looked behind me at the two friends I had with me, David and Haven, David had been a new friend but I already felt like he was close, now Haven I've been close with since the beginning of time, I knew I could trust them with whatever it was I held secret to me, but there was one secret that wasn't just mine, so I couldn't tell them about the book I had wrapped in clothes far in the bottom of one of my duffel bags, which reminded me, I had left those in Mr. Gray's room.

"Hey guys before I actually go in I need to run to Mr. Gray's office where I left my things, there are a few duffel bags, and my normal school bag."

"Make yourself at home Predicous, I'll go and get your things." David ran off to get them before I could say anything. Haven walked me in and gave me a look.

"You need to tell me everything that has happened since I left, my dad told me a few things but I know he left things out, probably trying to protect your privacy but I really want to know, I haven't seen you in a long time and now you're here." He sat down on a recline chair, not reclining it back just sitting there waiting for me to reply.

I thought long and hard before I actually told him, the journey was something I wanted to leave behind me but I knew it would come back, so I told him everything starting from when the principle accused me of skipping my detentions. Even though Haven used to interrupt me whenever I'd tell him a story, or anything else, he didn't interrupt me at all through the entire memory I was reliving. I only left out a few things, my dreams, the book, the door I had come upon, the guy I had met at the Sparta Wal-Mart, not Zeus, the creepy guy. I ended my story with, "And then we lived happily ever after, riding on weird winged horses." I ended it with a smile.

"That is amazing, this whole time I've just been training you were out doing the real thing, and Keri you said her name was?" I shook my head in agreement, "Yeah I saw her, she looked kind of dirty like you and that small kid but good gods Predicous, did you…you know?" at first I didn't know what he meant, but then I remembered the times Haven was with me at a party and I'd either be making out with some girl, or he'd catch me running into a room.

"Jesus Haven, no, I'm not like that anymore, sure maybe those two parties we went to I fooled around with girls but Keri is just my friend. I wouldn't take advantage of her like that, or any other girl for that matter I've changed and I'm thinking you have to, but not enough yet." I said with a smile.

"Your leaving something out…" he was saying when David walked in on us looking extremely tired.

David shouldered off the bags and flopped down on the bed, most of the designs in the room were the same, simple Greek and Roman pictures hung on the wall, there was a desk with Greek words engraved in it with other things. The bed that I'd be sleeping in had welcoming pillows, soft and fluffy. The cover and sheet were inlaid with the same design, Greek battles and stories drawn out across them. The wall around the perimeter was a mosaic of Greek things. Deep intricate designs covered most of the furniture.

"Well I brought you your things, and now I'm exhausted, you never said they weighed a ton." He said and laughed.

We all laughed for a bit enjoying the moment of friendship. A stocky man with a janitor's suit walked in and without a word laid out the supplies that were requested from the Assistant director, Ms. Una. I wanted to thank him but he had walked out before I could say anything.

"Don't worry, none of the janitors say much, talking is just something they don't do." David said to me.

"And you should quit talking and get that shower before its eleven-thirty." Haven said to me.

"Right" I said and grabbed the supplies. When I walked in the bathroom I took a look in the mirror and I nearly dropped everything in my hand. A mismatched bunch of hair covered my face; the facial hair was bald looking in some spots. My jaw seemed different, the baby fat was gone. My eyes even though they were hazel, they were three shades lighter. My hair was a ragged mess, settling down to my shoulders, how that girl Monica could have possibly thought I was handsome had a weird idea of good looking. I took my shirt off and looked over my torso, where the bullets had hit me were three small white scars, I turned around and winced at the sight of my back. A long scar rode from my right shoulder blade to the middle of my back, it was tanned around the edges, and white in the middle. Besides the large scar on my back it looked fine, well-toned and muscular from all my traveling. I stripped the rest of the way down and turned on the shower after I was in, the water started off cold and ran down my head and my body, making me shiver, and then the water warmed up and was hot, steamed rolled off my body when the hot water was full blast, I turned it down just a little so it was still hot. Putting the shampoo in my hair I witnessed dirt and grime and a horrible odor being washed off. I heard David yell. "Hurry up." He was right I didn't have that much longer, and I decided to take another shower and shave after I had my hair cut.

We went behind the school to the stables, getting on the Pegasí, they told me that we had to fly to the barber because she was located on the other side of the Island.

As we urged our winged horses to lift into the air I wondered what Keri, Dom, and Damien were up to. I was so used to being with them that it felt weird being without them, it felt like part of me had left, like as soon as we arrived at the Island we just left each other, I wondered if they felt the same. David was leading with Haven and I following behind him, and we were going speeding through the air, obviously in a tight time schedule. My Pegasí started panting harder and I could tell we were pushing them to hard. I slowed him down just enough for him to catch his breath and I stayed at that pace, keeping my friends within my sight. Ahead of us I saw four buildings, we were heading to the closest one I saw as David headed down towards it, the moonlight wasn't strong enough to completely show the buildings but on the path there were light posts line throughout the path.

A large rack had a single peppered Pegasí tied to it, the one David rode on, he must have been there at least a full two minutes before Haven and I landed. We tied our Pegasí to the rack and then walked in the shop, I was hit with the smell of different shampoos and ointments used for hair, it was not unlike any other barbershop, and the only difference was that the odor was more pleasing to the senses than it was at other places, it was relaxing. We heard David talking to someone further inside the shop so we went further in.

"Don't be fooled by her looks alright, she may seem young and peaceful looking, but you get on her bad-side and she'll tear you apart." Haven warned me quietly.

I expected to see an elf like Ms. Una, but instead I was looking at a normal looking girl, she looked maybe thirteen, however her powerful dark green eyes told me different, they looked like they'd seen battles upon battles, deaths of friends and family, she didn't look peaceful like Haven had said.

"Are these the guests you were talking to me about David?" She smiled softly at us.

"Yep, sure is." David told her.

"Well then, perhaps we should get to business then," she stepped away from her desk and walked around walking around me, and running her hand through my hair. I stood still out of respect, so she knew I only wanted to get this over with. "Your hair is perfect, why would you want to get something so beautiful cut?" she asked me her eyes bright with adoration. She had a mirror in her office, I hadn't looked in the mirror after my shower but now that I did even though my hair was windblown it flowed perfectly down to my shoulders, the dark brown that had once been there was now a bronze color.

"Your hair is the same color as celestial bronze, and it is just so perfect," again she felt on my hair, this time touching against my scalp, "your scalp is perfect to, why would you want to get something so perfect cut away?" she said again.

"Isn't bronze the same as celestial bronze?" I asked her.

"Oh no! Bronze is darker and uglier. Celestial has more of a dark-gold tint to it and is just way prettier."

"Ah," I said not thinking there was really a difference, "well I'd like it to be dyed an auburn-brown color, and cut to where…"

"The sides short and the top feathered short to long, and then longer on the very top, correct?" she said it like a pro.

"Umm, yeah that's what I was thinking," I watched her write something down in book she pulled from nowhere, "Also could you cut the back short?" I asked her, and she wrote another thing down before answering.

"I sure can. Now listen, since you only have about fifteen minutes lets schedule this for Wednesday, it'd be the best time to do it because I have nothing else to do and the kind of haircut you're asking for takes quite some time, unlike those stupid, worthless, barbers I know my stuff." She quickly wrote something else down and shook my hand and rushed us all out there, then when David and Haven were halfway down to the front door she looked me in the eyes before I was fully out of her office.

She said quietly, "You are no half-blood, your eyes have no mortality in them and your hair is definitely not anything I've ever seen, maybe heard of but not seen, I'll find out someday, but for now I'll treat you like any other student on this Island. Don't forget to show up here at noon on Wednesday." She said it like she was planning something, like I was her new project. She may have had a soft voice but you could tell there was power in her.

I half-jogged over to David and Haven and didn't let them see my expression, if it were Damien he would have been able to read my emotions but neither of the two I was with had that ability. How my hair was a different color didn't make sense to me. The Barber was the only one I knew who had seen something different besides just a change in color. And if she suspects something I know she will try her best to have me slip, something I was going to make myself ready for. We flew through the sky, taking it easy through the air; small gusts of wind would barely even buff us. This was the third time I had ridden on a Pegasí, and it was amazing. We were ten minutes late, all of us split up going in different directions. Haven went with David towards an interesting row of buildings all which were two stories tall. They were arranged in that weird symbol shape, the omega. I flew towards the school stables and when I landed I was greeted by Keri.

I hadn't expected her there at all, she was quiet before I landed, but after I tied up Indy she had found her behind me. I turned around when I heard footsteps, and was face to face with a beautiful girl standing barely two feet away, I had hardly recognized her, and in the light she looked different. She had cleaned up everything, even had a new pair of clothes on, she wore makeup and her hair was tied back into a pony tail.

"Hey Predicous." She said smiling brightly, she honestly did look beautiful but I wasn't in a good mood thanks to the encounter of The Barber.

"Hey." I said back to her trying to make out a smile.

"You're a horrible faker, do you ever realize that, I've been with you for," she looked up at the ceiling trying to count, "well I'm not gonna try and count, so I'm just gonna say a long ass time." She laughed and put her arm through mine and led me away from the stables back towards the school, "you really should get outa that mood you in, your rubbing off on me, what's wrong?"

I smiled at her, a real smile this time but not the big smile I usually gave her, "Just in deep thought I guess," I lied, "It's been a really long day, and I'm really tired, and I've had a lot on my mind lately."

She looked at me closely and I realized that she was practically as tall as me, maybe an full three inches or so, but she knew I was lying and opened her mouth to say something but closed it just as fast, that was one of the good things about Keri, she never really pushed for information. We walked in silence for a while until she stopped us at a door, we were close to where my room was I noticed, so us stopping right here must have meant she found where she was going to be staying.

The light must have glinted off my hair because she said, "You look kind of different, did you dye your hair?" she smiled at me and touched my hair softly running her hands through it, not like The Barber did, Keri went slow down it. "One thing is for sure you need a haircut or you could put it in a ponytail." She stuck her tongue out at me and made me laugh.

"You need to quit being so cheery," I smiled at her showing I was joking, "but no, I guess my hair just sort of changed over time and all that grime and dirt caked on it just made it look normal."

"It looks kind of pretty." She said with a smile. "Well, um, I guess I'm going to go to sleep, goodnight Predicous." She gave me a wistful look like she was waiting for something, I shied away.

"Goodnight Keri, sweet dreams." I leaned in and hugged her softly, at first she didn't hug back, but after a second she did and then she kissed my cheek and went red then hurriedly stepped into the room and shut the door leaving me with an empty feeling.

I made my way around a corner and found myself sitting on the bed taking my dad's boots off, I'd been wearing them for so long, and now I no longer needed them. I stripped down to my undershirt and my boxers, and then laid my head down on the pillow, it looked soft before, and feeling it was even better. Before I started to get comfortable a thought struck me, _whoa, what happened the last time I got comfortable, I got stuck in a freaking dream and almost died_, and then I turned and saw a dark figure sitting in the recliner chair looking right at me.

"Whoa!" I yelled flipped on the switch next to the bed which turned on the lamp near the bed. I looked over and he was still there wearing a hood over his face, at first I thought it was that creep I met at the Wal-Mart, until he spoke.

"Peace, Predicous. Sit down." Hades said to me calmly, his voice still hit my nerves making me chilly inside. "You have changed greatly since we've last met, no more do you seem the small coward you were. However that is of ill meaning, your appearance has changed as well. Now listen really carefully, only three of us know about you, Zeus, Me, and Poseidon. We must keep you a secret, now reason being is because in the wrong hands you could be extremely valuable, many would want to kill you, finish off your race, in fact, if my grand-daughter wasn't so fond of you and if you hadn't saved her I'd kill you myself, Poseidon doesn't have a say in it because he's too busy, and Zeus will not tell me the reason he wants you secret, he knows something but he's not letting me or anyone in on anything." He stopped talking and made himself a sandwich with things he got out of the fridge.

"So, I still don't get it." I said to him.

"You need to change your appearance, cut your hair, dye it, and also take this." He handed me box, "We can't rightfully interfere, It's against the rules but I'm going to do it because Zeus is to chicken," lightning thundered above us, "Yeah, yeah whatever," he was looking up at the sky, "look just be careful, I don't know what it is but you're going to be an important part of civilization or something, so don't die, I don't give a crap if you get hurt that's irrelevant and will happen anyway. Oh and uh, well I shouldn't tell you this but…" more thundering in the sky, "Never mind, I must go, duty calls." He winked at me and then vanished.

"Well that's wonderful." I said, I have to do something I already wanted to do.

I lay back down and was about to go to sleep when I heard a noise outside my door, it was a low hum coming from some unknown object, and then there was a bright flash of light. I opened up the door to the room I was in and…nothing was there. It was almost like nothing had ever happened, it made no sense. I walked back inside and fell right asleep when my head hit the pillow.

Standing in front of the mirror I was wearing that armor I had in my first dream, everything was the same except one thing I was in control. I looked to see where my staff was and noticed that it had changed as well, no longer was my staff an aluminum rod. It was crystallized, the same size as it normally was when it wasn't extended which was only a foot long, I pressed the button for it to extend and at the top was a spear head, a crystal spearhead. From the looks anyway. I ran through the door that led to the hallway, and then I heard Damien's voice yelling.

"They've attacked, everyone ready your weapons, every…" His cry for help was cut short. Again I was too late, but this time I was there, he saw him running, and then it was like time slowed down, a long spear stuck out of his back his face in my direction. I could feel myself crying. I remembered the last time I had this dream someone had stabbed me, I saw someone running at me and they went for a stab, I sidestepped and whacked them with my staff sending them sprawling, a flash of lightning above showed me a face of a young half-blood who wasn't much older than me, they were frightened of me, another flash of lightning webbed across the sky helping the moon with light. An image danced on the frightened half-blood shield an image of me, my eyes had gone pure white, and fire was dancing along my staff. Something else was happening, with this young hero on the ground cowering, frozen with fear before me I noticed a weird glowing light around him, a feint glow of copper, defiance. Letting all of this in he suddenly stood up, hit me with his shield and took a knife and stabbed at me only he missed because of how fast I moved, suddenly I couldn't control myself.

I hit the button to my expandable staff and he went back to its normal size, I parried off two more attacks from the half-blood and then slipped my staff some pouch behind my back next to my shoulder. Then with the grieves of my wrist guards I parried one more attack off and pushed my attacker away, my hands felt hot but not too hot. With in-human speed I was upon my attacker my hand slipped up his helmet and I felt my fingers wrap around his neck, He screamed he knew he was dying. I wanted to stop but I couldn't, he kept screaming and then I fought against myself and let him go. He ran off towards where he'd come from and then the Elf, Ms. Una, shot him down with an arrow and strode over to me.

I woke up from my dream and where my hands were on the bed there were burn mark like my hands caught the bed on fire and then put it out as soon as it caught. Also I had tears on my face, I wiped them away, and headed for the bathroom, I looked like crap, like I'd cried for hours. I hopped in the shower and this time I took my time.

Getting out was a lot harder but then I remembered that Haven wanted me to meet him at the stables around three, _what time is it?_ I asked myself. When I got out I looked at my facial hair and then found a beard trimmer, and my new razor and razor blades. I worked at my face slowly trimming the hair on my face and then slowly shaving it all off. Looking in the sink I realized just how much facial hair I had, also my hair seemed to catch me off guard again. The color was very different but still good. I looked at the box Hades had given me and decided to open it, inside the box contained eye contacts with a different tint to them. Slowly I put the eye contacts in and then when I was done (it took forever to get them in) I looked in the mirror again. My eyes looked almost the same as they had when I left my house all that time ago. They were slightly darker than usual but it matched fine. I checked out the time in the digital clock that hung up on the wall, two-fifty.

"HOLY SHIT!" I yelled and through clothes on. I grabbed a few other things I felt were important and then ran out of my room nearly knocking Mr. Gray off his hooves.

"Young Predicous I suggest you-"

I let out a long and loud, "Sorry", but was already half way on the other side of the school so I could get to the stables. Rushing wasn't that easy, I passed a whole bunch of people who gave me weird looks, looks that told me they'd never seen me before, looks that were almost annoying. I didn't care I was late. I ran and ran and ran. The school was a lot larger than I thought. I ran down a few stairs nearly falling on my face and then finally I was outside, someone with a huge basket of water balloons through one at me when I came through the door leaving me soaked, now these were not normal water balloons they were filled some kind of pink liquid. At first I stood there with my face awestruck, and then I came to. I turned to see a bright faced Monica.

"Oh. My. Gods, Predicous I am so freaking sorry, like, well I was waiting for Haven to come out and I was going to hit him with every single balloon. I am so sorry."

I started busting up with laughter, "Monica, its fine I think? Ha, ha, um let me guess, this stuff is impossible to wash off." I laughed

"Well yes and no." she said and smiled, "If you were Haven I wouldn't tell you how to wash it off, knowing him he'd try to think of something real big like lava from the kitchen or something he couldn't actually touch. If you don't mind going through lake water it would wash right off." She blushed.

"Well then today I think you should take me to that lake." I told her with a smile playing across my face.

She reddened, "That would be great, wait what time?"

"I'm thinking eight?" I said to her, I knew she was Haven's half-sister an all but she was hot, nice, and the first girl that talked to me. The reason I wanted to do it so late though was so I had time to train with Haven on the Pegasí, also we'd be able to see because from what I saw there were lights around the lake.

"Eight would be…" she started to say and then saw Haven walking out, I ran over to her basket and together we lodged water balloons with pink stuff in them.

It took Haven a few seconds to realize he was being teamed up against, and when he got smacked by almost fifteen balloons with pink stuff exploding on him, he figured it out and somehow caught one of them without it bursting and then sent it flying straight at Monica. Haven was enjoying this because he caught two more that were sent his way and one was sent at me which I dodged but Monica wasn't to lucky again she was splattered with pink stuff.

"You two can pick up all the remains, Predicous I'm going to go prep our Pegs, it should only take you like ten minutes so I'll see you there." Haven said chuckling while he walked towards the stables.

"Well looks like both of us are going to need that lake, " I said picking up pieces of the balloons, we still had a few more in the basket but we didn't use all of them, we sat there picking them up then got closer to each other, "I look forward to seeing you later." I smiled at her and she smiled back.

"You may be short but you're real good at smooth talking." She told me put a few pieces of the balloons in the basket.

"So is that like a "yes I look forward to seeing you to" kind of thing?" I asked her, I had been out of practice for a long time, sweet talking was something that seemed to come naturally to me, I knew how and who to say it to and when.

She giggled beneath her breath, "Yes Predicous, it's that kind of thing," then she asked me, "where'd you get your name from anyway, I've never heard of it before?"

"My name is a long story, I'll let you in on it tonight, I'll see you later chika." I told her and headed towards the stables, still with the pink stuff all over me.

"What'd you guys talk about, trying to plan another assault on me again" Haven said to me when I walked in the stable door.

"Do what?" at first I had forgotten about the pink-stuff-fight, and then I remembered, "Oh, ha, ha, Haven you should have seen you face man," then I decided to play a game with him, "she hit me when I came out, thinking I was you, but how do you get this stuff off?"

He looked at me confused then said with finality, "well you have to get a sponge, and then get the kitchen lava…what are you laughing about?"

"Nothing," I said to him, "it's just you look so freaking funny in pink" bursting even louder with laughter.

"I wouldn't be talking you look even more funny in pink than I do, but like I was saying, you have to get a sponge from the kitchen then some kitchen lava and well it's not like normal lava, it can't melt your skin but it's still hot enough to hurt, anyway you scrub it all over where the pink dye is and then it'll go away."

Haven looked like he'd done it before but I knew he hadn't, and I wondered why Monica would do something like that to him so I asked him, "How come she did that to you."

He rolled his eyes and hopped on his Pegasí, as he went into the air I followed him and then after about five minutes he told me, "snuck some of the kitchen lava into one of her shampoo bottles...a few days ago, so she did this, she knows I hate pink, she knows I'm a neat freak, what she doesn't know is that I'm not gonna let it bother me." He said with a triumphant smile.

We rode in silence the rest of the way, and when we landed I told him to come with me. Haven followed me into the stables. I led him to the first stall.

"Um, Predicous that Pegasí isn't tamed; she's dangerous, crazy, and completely careless."

"Who else is like that?" I said to him with a big smile.

"Yeah but that's a beast, an animal, your just, well your you."

The brown Pegasí let out a loud snort, "I don't think she likes being called a beast." I said to him, "get me the proper things to use," he started getting them then I said, "On second thought I don't want them I want to try this babe bare back." I smiled wickedly.

"You won't last a half second in there, the longest anyone has ever last in there was four minutes, twenty-three seconds, I timed them, and it was a janitor." He laughed.

I grabbed a rope and made my way inside of the stall, I looked her in the eyes as I did last time this time with more respect. It was amazing, she was amazing, she sent Damien flying over the top of the stall door, and from what Haven was saying I'd bet she's done it many times to other people.

"Hey girl, nice to see you again," I marveled at her beauty and majesty, "You are probably the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life," I walked closer to her an then she put her head down, for a second I thought she was about to throw me out, but she nudged the hand that held the rope, I'd completely forgot about it. "Oh this, well I was going to ask your permission if I could train on you, better yet train with you, I've never seen anything as beautiful as you."

I could hear talking behind my stall It was Haven and Damien, and they were both making bets, and then I heard Haven yell in, "you almost done in there? Oh and I thought I'd let you in on a secret, That Pegasí that your messing with well she's almost a different breed, sure she was sired by _The_ Pegasus, but her other ancestry is unknown, we just know she is smarter, and she is dangerous, oh and obviously she's almost a full foot and a half smaller than most." I heard him laugh and tell Damien "He's never gonna get on her, let alone get her out of that stall."

"We're gonna show them Adaméte," Her ears pricked up and she let out a low sound in the back of her throat, it wasn't a sound I was to but I took it as a good sign, "May I?" I asked her and showed her the rope. I lightly tied it around her thick neck and then made a loop with it so it wouldn't get to tight, the rope was uncomfortable in my hands, so I knew it had to be slightly uncomfortable for her as well.

I led Adaméte outside and around to the normal take off area, and saw something she was looking at, off behind the fence was a crate of pears, I took the rope and slipped it in the loop so Adaméte could roam freely in the pin and graze fresh grass.

I ran over to the crate popped it open and grabbed out 3 pears, one for me, and two for her, was how I saw it. Damien saw me first, and then He had Haven by the arm and was pulling him to the pin to show him.

Adaméte slowly trotted over to me, "Here you go one for…" she knocked them all out of my hands and put her slobber all over them, "Well aren't you just a no-share kinda gal." I said with a smile, "in any case screw you I'm hungry." I said and picked up one of the pears, she tried to bite it and it became a tug of war game with us to see who'd get the pear. She neighed loudly and I could tell she was about to rear up, and when she did, well she sent me in the air. Landing hard on my back I stood and ran at her, because well see she had already eaten the first two and now she was about to eat the other one an before she could she had it half way in her mouth and then she realized a hand was there, I snatched it out and went to take a bite, she took her head and swung it at me hitting my hand sending the pear high in the air.

"Oh-ha-ho you don't!" I yelled and jumped up to get it I saw her jump to and then we collided into each other. I fell on my back again and next to me was the pear, Adaméte was on her side almost twenty feet from the tasty food, at the same time we both got up and went to get it she slid and hit it with her hooves sending it rolling into the dust and both of us after it and then that's when she was behind me, with her head down.

"Watch out!" Damien tried to yell.

Instead of flying way across the field I found myself in the air only I had grabbed a hold of the rope and was now heading towards Adaméte's back, when I landed she tried to buck me off, pear in her mouth, I held on and didn't let go and then finally she almost had me but I whispered in her ear, "you win you can have the damn pear." She tried one more time to buck me off but it was only a small kick of the back legs. With the rope as a reign I pulled her around to where Damien and Haven stood, stunned, awed in silence.

"Let's show them a real Pegasí." I whispered to her, and then lightly kicked her sides letting her know what I wanted, at first it didn't work and then I decided to try and get into her mind.

Her mind was as fortified as mine was and I basically knocked letting her know it was me, she didn't accept me at first instead she pushed harder, but then I sent her good emotions, I sent her a few of my memories showing her my trust. It took a few more memories and then she gave way and let me in completely yet she was still in control. I heard her speak to me, the way she talked was almost like Aldwin.

"_You are quite young to be doing this type of connection. What are you?" _she had a soft voice, almost musical. "_And you need to know something, this isn't a normal connection like most, we are now completely connected, I feel your pain, and you can feel mine, the connection you've done is dangerous but I have accepted it, no others would I have accepted and I would have escaped sometime later in the year when I knew the outside was warm but you have showed me otherwise."_ She told me kindly.

We were now flying in the air staying barely in the vicinity, "_So wait you're saying I can feel what you feel even if we are not mentally connected?" _I asked her, confusion and concern in my voice.

She laughed lightly, "_yes and I can feel what you feel, Oh and by the way, I love the name you gave me, It feels right. There are good things about this type of relationship though Predicous, like if you ever needed help I could be there for you, or the other way around, if you needed to do something that would consume too much of your energy you could use some of mine, it's risky but it would work. However…there is a large downside, I have taken a risk a risk I hope doesn't prove fatal, If I die you will be injured that is all, some would go mad it depends on the person, but if you die…"_

"_Then you will die to…" _I said letting it sink in, "_can we not undo the relationship?"_

"_Predicous I would have declined your offer into my mind if I didn't trust you, you showed me a great many things from your view, which I shared many interests in, you didn't just show me memories, I could feel them. But there is a way to block the feelings, you must concentrate on other things for it, I think you will be trained in this later on in your life so I will just do what you wish from now on however if you fall I swear it's not my fault."_ She let out a loud noise I guessed was a laugh.

It turned out there were many good things about the type of connection we had, I could be thinking up or almost anything with flying and without a word from my mouth she'd understand and she would perform the maneuver, she wasn't afraid either, I worked her hard, and she worked me hard. There were times I'd almost fallen off and she'd let out a quiet neigh sound. Adaméte was amazing in every way, I wanted to know the real reason she picked me, I had barely anything for her and then I remembered when Haven had inquired our likeliness. We landed down below next to Haven and Damien.

"Haven, Damien, I'm ready for my training." I told them proudly, both of them jumping when Adaméte and I landed, they were both paranoid, when I was around them.

Haven answered first clearing is dumbfounded expression, "Alright, umm, Damien go and grab a bow with a quiver of arrow, and grab a shield, and grab Predicous a beginners spear since he's never used one before." He motioned towards the small armory that connected to the stables.

Damien walked off, and then Haven said to me, "Predicous, I don't know how you managed to tame her but congrats, but just letting you know I've had some practice with real stuff, I'm not just gonna train you in this we will practice here how you and I used to spar, we must get you a sword fashioned though a sword and a shield, also I have studied every weapon maneuver, every stab, every type of parry, I've studied all there is about combat…"

"Yeah but he still sucks at them, you get Haven on your team your well good with tactics but he really isn't a good swordsman, if you want to fight a good swordsman you go and talk to Kyle Westin. Kyle is the best swordsman around here, he's a son of Apollo but he made his own equipment, had help making it but he still has it. Like Haven he knows everything there is, well Haven is smarter than him about some of it but Kyle is amazing, he is also really good at most of our sports, and he loves free-running." Damien stopped and handed me all the necessary tools I was going to use, the bow he gave me was almost like the one I made except that the wood was maybe five pounds heavier with darker grain, the string was also extremely think and all of the arrows were tipped with something green, I turned the arrow around in my hand.

"It's for tracking, "Damien said to me, "incase the arrow goes to far, as soon as you shoot it leaves a small bright, neon yellow spray on the ground so you can find it."

I hopped back onto Adaméte, put the quiver of arrows behind my back, shouldered the shield which weighed a ton, and then hefted the spear, it was way to light. "Alright, well im totally ready for whatever it is you guys have to throw at me, for real." I said to them with confidence seeping through my voice.

Haven gave me a smile that made me think maybe I was wrong, maybe I couldn't do it, "We'll see about that," he said, I saw Damien putting up targets around the arena/pin, "Now what you have to do is hit the targets on your Pegasí."

"Ok that's easy." I said taking out an arrow.

"Not as easy as you think while you're flying far in the air." He said quickly, withholding a smirk.

Damien hit a button on the side of the small armory. Suddenly the eight targets he put out grew what looked like robotic legs. They legs may have been robotic but as they moved side to side it was almost as if they weren't, they were plenty faster than human legs.

Adaméte shot up in the sky first circling the area, our minds became one again, both of us in control. I turned my sight on the moving targets and hefted the bow Damien had given me. I willed Adaméte to get closer and as she did I held a few arrows in one hand quickly slipping them in the nook of the bow. I shot at the first couple of targets and realized they also moved to motion. I made sure to fly high above them, where motion wouldn't be noticed. I shot one arrow at the farthest target first. As the arrow made its way to the far away target I thought I saw it glint in the light, not like a shiny glint, more like a glow around the arrow. I didn't try and take time to think about instead I let loose another arrow this time concentrating as hard as I could to get the arrow to go through an easy path, I don't know where I had the idea but I prayed to whatever god there was, and I prayed to myself. The arrow shot through the air much faster than the first arrow I let loose. I watched it closely and saw that I hit the target barely four inches from the bulls-eye. The feeling was wonderful, considering these things moved. Adaméte flew closer now, trying to get me to shoot the closest target, there were still a few left but I decided she was probably right so I let loose another arrow and someone else shot one when I did nearly nocking my arrow out of the air.

"You need to put more feeling into it." This random kid said to me, they had a bow that looked much like mine only theirs was a different color, they wore a helmet, concealing their face. I stared blankly. "You need to use your back muscles more than your arm, you're a good shot but to be a true archer you need to have feeling." They told me again.

"And who is it that I'm talking to?" I asked, trying to think why the voice sounded familiar.

They took their helmet off and pointed ears were in place along with that angelic face of an elf, "You're talking to a teacher, show some respect." Ms. Una said smiling at me, for being as old as she probably was she was very attractive.

Adaméte snorted angrily at me, _sorry, _I said in my head, "Well if I knew it was you or any other teacher I might have showed more respect but it's hard to do that when I am not sure who you are, and plus you shot my arrow." I told her smiling with the cocky smile I played on people.

"True enough, but you should treat anyone and everyone with respect even if it is your enemy staring you dead in the face, you'll learn that through some of the History you're going to be learning tomorrow." She pointed down at the ground and we set our Pegasí down, and got off. She raised her eyebrow at me when I got off. "It seems," she paused, "yes, It seems you and that Pegasí have become mentally linked, as an elf I have that ability to read the minds of animals, however you're Pegasí has shut me out of a lot of her memory only showing me brief things, like you an her joining. Odd?" she looked in deep thought, then dismissed it and held out a piece of paper, "This is your schedule, It only has the core classes that you need to graduate, I was able to find out your old schedule from your last school so I could see where you were at for your grades and your classes. I'm proud to say your GPA is at a wonderful three point five." I looked at Haven and Damien who were talking behind the fence.

I took a look at the schedule and frowned, at my old school, the one in Troy, I had ten classes in total for both semesters, the schedule I had in my hand showed only core classes; English 3, Algebra 2, Biology, and History. "How do the hours work?" I asked her a confused expression purely sincere.

"Well since you only have those for classes you only go to school for, three-hundred-sixty minutes, that's ninety minutes for each class." She said to me plainly.

"Oh, so I only…Okay that sounds fine I guess, but what about the extra classes, do you—"

She interrupted me, and pulled out a small booklet and handed it to me, "This shows all the classes you can take, yes there are other extracurricular classes you can take, now there is a form you can fill out during the day, the armory, arena, etcetera, cannot be used until after four p.m. after that time you may be able to explore those areas and practice, or build, or whatever you may like to do. Please sign the form for any extra classes." She swiftly and gracefully got on her Pegasí and rushed off.

"Well Adaméte I guess that concludes archery practice for the day." I said to her. We walked over to Haven and David, they had seen the exchange, "I'm going to fly around, get some good practice and fun out of me, see what she can do, and then I'm going to go to my room, so if you guys need me I'll be there."

"Aren't you gonna get that stuff off you first?" Damien said between laughing fits, "Haven you should try and get it off to."

"I think that's a good Idea." Haven replied back, showing a sign of anger. I still thought it was funny and I knew he wouldn't be able to get it off for a while unless his sister told him how.

"Yep." I said.

As we were flying across the land I noticed a small Island that was connected to the one we were on, I wanted to ask about it but kept my mouth shut it didn't feel like the right time. Adaméte and I did all kinds of tricks; spirals, nose dives, back flips. I even tried doing something kind of like sky diving, we went high in the sky and then I did a backflip off of Adaméte's back, and was free-falling for a good amount of time and then Adaméte would swoop down below me and I'd grab hold of the reins and lightly pull myself back onto her back. Haven would shoot me looks of irritation when I did stunts because he told me they were "too dangerous to really be trying when I haven't really had the right kind of practice" in truth I was more than sure he was just jealous. But there were times when I would miss Adaméte's back and she'd have to catch me, nothing could best the feeling of pure adrenaline. The Island I saw passed by us and I saw that it looked to be pure woods area, there was a small wall around it, the wall connected to what looked like another wall that connected the main wall to the main Island. In short it was a lot like a hallway. finally I couldn't stand it anymore.

"Haven what's that other island?" I asked him, full of curiosity.

He looked over to where I pointed, and his frame seemed to tremble a little and then went still, "Some old guy lives on it, no one is aloud over there, there are lots of rumors about him, but it barely makes sense though that the council would keep him here if any of the rumors are true. I've seen the man only twice, both times that I've seen him I always get this awkward feeling that he knows my exact thoughts. His eyes both flicker from a natural dark brown to…well to a golden color, and the only being I know that had golden eyes was the titan lord Cronus, now don't confuse him though for other titan Chronos-he's the Titan of time. But it wouldn't make sense for them to keep that Cronus here, he's stuck in the deepest parts of Tartarus anyway…" he looked like he was about to pass out.

"Well I was just wondering, so—"

"Predicous be careful alright, if you go over there which I bet you will considering you always seem to let your curiosity get to you, just be careful, I'm gonna tell you right now though, there are eight guards posted at that part of the wall…depending on what you learn here you will learn other things on your own, like well I'll let you find out for yourself."

And with that we separated, he went down to the armory, I guess to talk to someone who was working there. I landed Adaméte and I on the ground in front of the school, and told her she could roam around and do whatever as long as I was still in contact with her.

The sight of her leaving was amazing. She spread her magnificent wings, looked at me, and then pushed off into the sky.

There was a clock above the door frame of the school, I could barely read it. "That's awesome can't even read a clock anymore." I said to myself.

"The clock reads out, six-forty. Hey." Keri said with a smile, "What you can't read clocks?" she asked me curiously.

"Not clocks that are in weird letters, numbers." I told her.

She looked at them and then she giggled lightly, "They clock is in Ancient Greek. No wonder you couldn't read it." She laughed lightly.

"That's not even funny Keri, if everything is in Greek I'm gonna have a horrible time with my classes." I complained.

"Oh you got your schedule! I did to, do we have any classes together?" she pulled out her schedule from her pocket and it turned out we had two classes together.

"We have History and Algebra two together." I told her with a proud smile.

"That's great, are you signing up for any extra classes or…" she let the last part hang.

"I think so. I haven't gone through the booklet yet," I laughed, "but hey we should go inside, I want to get something to eat and I was told they had a cafeteria in the school on the second floor somewhere, this place is like a freaking mall." I laughed.

"The store here is kind of like a small mall, one of the tour guys showed me." Keri said to me.

We walked inside and then found a map of the school, then we made our way to the where the cafeteria was, and it was empty. I looked around trying to see if anyone was around but there wasn't, Keri and I looked at each other then turned around and walked around the school, I felt my stomach growl.

"You kids lost?" a man said, he looked like a teacher, only weird thing was his bottom half was like Damien's, fury like a goat.

"Um yeah, where can we find food?" I asked him cutting straight to the point.

"Oh!" he laughed out loud, "go down to the Coliseum they have the set up for supper every night, you kids must be new here or something," he shook my hand, "The name is Cherry Roads, but you can call me, Mr. Roads, or Coach. I Coach the basketball team here along with soccer." He told us. how he could coach those sports kind of worried me, considering his lower half was a goat.

Keri and I walked back outside, and looked around, then once we remembered where the coliseum was we headed in that direction, it turned out they really did have it set up to change for supper. There was a weird looking well in the middle and smoke was rising out of it, music was playing and to me it sounded like hip-hop. I looked at Keri and saw her swaying back and forth.

"What do you hear?" I asked her.

"Music of course, don't you hear it?"

"Well yeah, I'm hearing Akon." I chuckled.

"Akon doesn't sing "Hanging by a moment", Life House does." She opened her eyes and looked at me carefully.

"Life House doesn't sing "Blame it on me"." I looked back at her, and cocked my head.

"You're crazy." Was all she said and she walked down to the open archway.

I followed her down, confused as to why she was hearing "Hanging by a moment", and I was hearing, "Blame it on me" it just didn't make any sense.

I walked through the archway into an area that nearly took me off my feet, the archway was a small hallway but you could feel it go down. I didn't think much of it, just that I was going on a downwards slope. But inside of the Coliseum tables were set up, and I could see a well that had smoke coming out of it. People were dropping food down the well and closing their eyes, and then they'd head over to a table and eat the rest of their food. It was really interesting actually, I couldn't see a kitchen, I couldn't see chefs, people would just grab cups and plates and then all of a sudden the food would appear out of nowhere. Glued to the spot I couldn't help but just watch everyone around me. Someone accidentally ran into me, they were running from a friend of theirs, just having fun. The encounter pulled me from my deep fascination and I came to. I went and sat by Haven who was sitting next to the red-headed girl I'd met the day before. Monica was over by the well praying. Haven, Monica, and I were all still covered in the pink stuff that in those balloons. Haven didn't look mad about it anymore merely just sat and laughed with Rachel, the redhead. Keri hadn't mentioned the pink stuff to me surprisingly but inside I'm sure she was laughing her ass off. I smiled to myself and looked around for her. I spotted her over by Monica; they were talking, and laughing.

I walked over to where they had cups and plates, picked them up, looked at them, and took a step back. I saw this kid whisper something and then that's when I figured it out.

"McChicken, side of franks red-hot-original hot-wings, and an eight ounce steak." I whispered over the plate, it took about a minute but suddenly food appeared on my plate, and it looked completely fresh. I looked at the cup, looked around and then said, "Blue Gatorade, with a shot of Seagram Seven." Suddenly it filled up with the blue Gatorade and then went a darker color for a second. I took a small sip and could taste the alcohol. I smiled to myself and hoped that no one would find out about what I did. I walked over to the well and called for a steak knife and a fork, when the appeared I cut off a large part of my steak and dumped it in the well, then I dropped five of the ten hot-wings I had, and I cut a piece of my McChicken, I thought about pouring some of my Gatorade in the well to but decided not to. Suddenly there was a wonderful smell coming from the well. I stepped back to let other people put some of their food in, and I looked down and prayed to all of the gods that I knew.

I prayed to Athena first, _Athena, I guess I can say thank you for Haven, umm I guess well that's it for that then._ _Umm Ares, well still don't care who you are but I always did think it was cool how you were the "God of War"_ _Uh, oh! Apollo, archery, and well with all the shots I took I gotta thank for letting me make them, same with you Artemis._ _Zeus, you're a crazy old guy with storm powers, but you're a pretty cool old guy._ _Hades, so far I think im starting to like you the most of the gods?_ _Hephaestus, please help me make something cool and worth it in your shop, er the armory I mean._ _Okay well I'm going to stop praying to the gods, oh I have an idea I'll pray to the gods every day six at a time._

I stepped another step away from the well and walked towards the table that Haven sat at, Monica and Keri were sitting next to each other with a seat open next to Monica and Haven. I looked around for Damien, when I found him I walked over and sat by him. It looked like he had shaven, and combed back his hair. He looked good.

"Expecting a date?" I asked him when I sat down.

"N-n-no," he stuttered, "Well, y-yeah."

"Damien its fine man, calm down."

"Sorry." He said to me.

"Damien, quit being so weird, how long has it been since you've seen her."

"Is it that obvious?" he asked me.

"To the naked eye of other people, nope, to a guy that is really good when it comes to girls and has hooked up God knows how many people, yeah kind of." I told him with a smile.

A young girl, Damien's age, laid a hand on his shoulder and then sat down, "Hey Damien." She said with a large smile, she gave him a hug, "I missed you so much, I'm sorry it took so long for me to get over here I had to help a few of the other girls in the lake." I could smell something on her, I guess it was her fragrance, it wasn't a bad smell but it smelt like lake water with certain kinds of flowers.

I looked at Damien's wrist and he had a digital watch on it. The time read out, 7:45, it was almost eight. Almost eight! I looked around for Monica and saw her look at something that looked like a phone. She turned her head and looked around, and then her eyes settled down on me, she smiled, and then stood up.

I waited for a short three minutes before I actually stood up and walked out of the coliseum. She was sitting on a bench obviously waiting for me. I went and sat next to her.

"Well hey there." I said with a wink, "You look like a girl with a plan."

She looked at me before answering, "I may have a few plans, and tricks up my sleeve." She smiled at me.

I stood up , "Shall we head out?" I held out my arm.

"I think we should…take my Pegasí to the lake, and don't mind the Naiads when we get there.

"Naiads?"

"Yeah, those girls well you were sitting next to Damien, the girl sitting next to him is a Naiad." Monica told me.

Monica took my arm and we walked to what I guessed was where she stayed, and we went through a door, she led me through a hallway that led to another door, that door brought us back outside. And she hurried us to a Pegasí, it was a beautiful beast. She kissed it on the cheek and then gracefully hopped on. Monica held out her hand.

"Shall we head out?" she said, obviously copying what I had said a few minutes before. I grabbed hold of her hand and surprisingly it felt strong, she helped me onto her Pegasí and then without asking if I was ready we rushed off into the night sky, heading through woods area, and then ending up at what looked like a large lake.

We stayed in the sky before going down and Monica looked back at me, a broad smile played across her face, she took hert hand and fixed my hair.

"Your hair is a mess," she giggled softy, "but it looks good on you."

"I'm sure it does, now how deep is the water below us?" I asked her with a smile.

"Well where were at its about thirteen feet deep," her looked changed to confusion, "why?"

"Well you can land wherever your wanting to land but you need to meet me in the water," I took my shirt off and put it in the pack she had that was attached to the saddle she had on the Pegasí, and then I stood up on the back of the winged-horse, "were about thirty feet up, it's gonna be just like cliff jumping, see you at the bottom." I took my pants off, put those in the pack then pulled a backflip into a dive and I could feel the rush of adrenaline as the unknown depth of water would hit me. The rush was something I haven't had in a long time, and it felt like heaven. I let myself relax in the water before breeching the surface, and when I did I could see Monica stripping down to her undergarments. In the moonlight I could see her shape. I thought I saw a bright **color** glow around her but it was gone as soon as it was there. My eyes had been doing that to me the past couple of days. She walked towards the water and felt it before actually getting in, and when she did she took a step back and then ran and jumped into a diving position her form was perfect. The way she jumped showed she must have been in a swim team or something, and the way she had the diving position was almost like she knew everything to form and balance. My thoughts were ruined when she surfaced up and treaded the water behind me. I felt her legs wrap around me, for a second I thought I was going to go under but somehow I managed to stay up above water.

"You really do have a lot of muscle." She laughed lightly.

I went over towards the shore so I could stand up without trouble, she followed me, "well long adventures sort of do that to you over a period of time. It's kind of—"

"Quit talking." She put a finger to my lips and then in place of her finger I could feel her lips touch mine, and then I let myself kiss her back, it was a quick kiss. "Predicous, I'm not gonna bite, relax."

"Oh I'm relaxed, I'm just making you want me more." I smiled at her and then put my hands on her legs and put her on my hips, and putting my lips to hers our mouths met and slowly I slipped my tongue in her mouth letting it snake around, kissing wasn't a feeling I'd had in a while thanks to that small journey I took. I was afraid that I'd lost my touch. I pulled away from her. "How was that." I whispered to her, I looked at her and she opened her eyes.

I looked around us and saw glowing lights at the bottom of the lake, "It was a lot better than I had thought it was going to be, I'll tell you that." She said with a smile and then followed my eyes, "Don't mind them, they just like watching these kinds of things, also they're bad rumor spreaders so no one would believe them if they said anything, so don't worry."

"What's there to worry about? All I did was kiss this extremely sexy girl named Monica." I said to her, and then started kissing her again, "We should get all of this pink stuff off." I whispered to her. "I feel like a pink monster."

We laughed lightly and she got off my hips and stood in the ground, "You know, I think your right, but we should kiss some more before it."

"Fine with me." I said and again put my lips to hers, this time I kissed her with more passion, and I knew it was going to get crazy if we kept kissing so I finally stopped, took a small breath. "You can wash me first." I said with a large grin.

I felt her hands go around me, rubbing on my chest getting the pink off, I felt her run her hand down my stomach making its way lower, she was a tease. She went back up and rubbed on my back, getting more of the stuff off. When she stopped I knew it was my turn to rub her down, I started at her back, rubbing the stuff off, I made both my hands rub and then I had them on her hips. Letting my fingers touch her butt I pushed her closer against me and started kissing her again, but while I kissed her I rubbed over her body getting the pink stuff off.

Her Pegasí whinnied in sign that it was time we should go, I pulled away from her letting a small space between us, and slowly Monica's eyes opened.

Monica sighed softly, "I guess we should get going before curfew, I'd really hate it if the cleaning crew saw me; they absolutely hate me."

"You're probably right." I told her. We walked out of the water and put our clothes back on. The night air was cool but not cold, it was a welcoming sign that it was going to be a good night. "We should do something like that again sometime, but without all the pink crap all over us." I said hugging her for warmth as she flew us back towards the school to drop me off.

"Well, we have school, and I have to work the stands tomorrow night, we have a game, you should sign up to join one of our teams." She said.

"Would they let me in?" I asked her

"Depending on which coach you talk to, they need more players. Haven won't join…maybe you can get him to join? You are his best friend after all." She looked back at me and I smiled.

"Haven doesn't like sports that much, he thinks he's bad at them but he really isn't, so I think I'll talk to him. But what sports are there here?"

"Well we have a swim team, a football team, a soccer team, a tennis team, volleyball, track, cross country, umm and a few other teams, if you read the handbook it'll tell you what sports we have, and what they are about."

"I know what sports are about Monica, I played football and soccer for three years."

"You played normal football and soccer, the sports here…well they're more…dangerous, you'll see tomorrow if you go to the game."

We rounded a bend in the woods and then I saw the stable lights below, where the school was. Slowly we landed and got off the Pegasí. "Her name is Nike, like the victory goddess," Monica said petting her Pegasí, "I named her that because of all the things we've done together."

I looked at Nike and even though Monica said it was because of all the things they've done together, I could see a small mark that resembled the Nike sign.

"I think she likes that name," I said to her, "but hey thanks for the night tonight I had a good time. It was crazy out there. It was good to have some fun for once." I hugged her, kissed her cheek said goodbye and walked up the steps to the school, held the door open looked back and saw Monica flying off in the distance, a small smile playing its way larger on her face.

My mind wandered off after I got into the school, suddenly I fell to my knees and my vision changed, instead of at the school I was seeing a warm cozy building with a light inside of it. I found myself inside and then caught my breath, the man I'd seen at the Sparta Wal-Mart was talking to the kid I'd seen in my dream, the kid I'd seen on the poster, Terry Triskosky. He was standing in front of a mirror, and the guy I'd seen at Sparta was talking to him, at first I couldn't hear what he was saying but then I pushed myself to hear the words.

"I don't understand, though." Terry was saying in the mirror, "Reincarnation? None of that stuff is makes sense. I'm just a simple runaway. Kids do this stuff all the time."

"You will come to understand in time, first I must teach you the old ways, your brother has the book, but he doesn't have me, from what I understand you, him, and I are the last of our kind. However neither of you have hit yet so I will have to teach you basics." The creepy guy said. I could see his eyes, his hair was silver, not like an old man's silver, it was actually silver, he had it tied back. His eyes were still the same color only he looked dangerous. "Ah. Well Thérion we seem to have a visitor." He looked at me and smiled a cruel unforgettable smile.

I had to get out of there but I couldn't' move I was glued to the spot, and I couldn't tell Terry to get out of there for his sake, I couldn't do anything.

"Sir," Terry said, "I still don't know how you know any of that about me?"

"Well first off, lets show our guest something he should be wary about." The guy smiled at me and motioned for Terry to do something.

"I don't see anyone there sir but as you wish, and you keep talking about my brother, are you talking about Brian?" Terry looked annoyed but the creepy guy looked very excited. After maybe a minute the room started going cold, Terry went blue and his eyes went purple, suddenly I could feel the temperature drop but I wasn't freezing, Terry put his hands forward and then shot out a bunch of spike like things at the wall next to me. Twelve dagger sized ice-sickles were impaled into the wall.

I closed my eyes and then opened them only to see that I was no longer with Terry and the creepy guy, I was back at the school. Kneeling down, feeling cold, feeling scared. I stood up, and realized how shaky my legs were, slowly standing straight up I put my hands on my knees for support and slowly I walked to my room. I had plans for going around the school to see where my future classes were going to be but now I hardly had the strength to keep walking. I somehow managed to go somewhere without really leaving, I somehow could still feel the cold ice-sickles next to me. It was obvious I was in some kind of connection to Terry, and it was also obvious that his name, Terry, wasn't his real name, his real name was Thérion, and he was dangerous. Maybe I was to in a way but he basically through frozen daggers at me, I couldn't make daggers out of thin air. In short I was kind of jealous. Inside my room I tried thinking through things but I just couldn't concentrate, I could hardly keep my eyes open, I couldn't do anything except sleep.

I woke up the next morning to the sound of someone banging on my door, I rolled out of the bed I was sleeping in and well lazily got to my feet, yes I actually rolled out of the bed. I opened the door to see Haven with a big giant smile playing on his lips. I opened the door more to let him in and walked towards the bathroom. _That's right I have school today, ugh to tired,_ I thought to myself. _Whoa! It's only 6 a.m.!_ I looked at Haven, back at my clock, and then said, "Wow, what are you doing here? It's only six in the morning Haven."

Haven looked around the room before answering, "I wanted to make sure you'd wake up and I also wanted to give you a few things, well they weren't from me, but yeah here."

He handed me a bag, it was a lot like any other school bag with the straps only it was basically an extra large instead of a normal size school bag. The sack was equipped with a few extra things such as a flap that held a pocket in it that was between the straps. There were two pockets on the outside that expanded almost three inches. On the other side of the bag were two more pockets, again which expanded three inches. I opened the bag up and found out on the inside of the bag were eight five subject ruled notebooks, four folders, a pouch with two pockets which contained mechanical pencils, pens, two point pencils, erasers, and even sketch supplies.

He said, "You get that bag for now, but once you do a few things and find out a few things and well things you get to call in and have them make you your own school bag, of course they all have the amount of pockets and are the same size."

I turned the bag around and saw a few images on the front like a coat of arms symbol. The back had a simple owl on it, the front was black and the back was grey.

"So what—"

"Well that bag is my old bag from last year, I have a new one, every year what they do is they give us school bags well we order them a certain way at the beginning of the summer and we have until February to turn in the forms, I got you one in the bag actually but you should get ready for whatever classes you have, the notebooks and pencils, etc, are all new so don't worry." He took a breath, a thought occurred to me that Haven would make a good sales person possibly if he'd just quit being so shy.

"I'm going to uhh well I'll wait here for you." He said sitting down on the bed.

I grabbed some clothes making sure they looked like something I'd look good in, and then walked towards the bathroom. Taking one last look at Haven I couldn't help but laugh, it seemed as if he had an OCD problem the way he kept smoothing out the blankets. I wanted to thank him for making my bed but at the moment I needed to get things done. In the shower I thought about Keri and Monica, Not sure how I felt about Keri, but I knew how I felt about Monica, lust. Out of shower I put clothes on and then opened the door to sort things around and see if there would be anything I needed, it turned out Haven had done all of that for me.

"Okay." I said trying to be enthusiastic, "How does all of this work, and are you going to show me my classes so I don't look stupid."

"You look stupid anyway Predicous." Haven smiled warmly, "I should probably tell you though, I looked through your uh schedule and saw that you only have the core classes. You're able to go to the counselor and 'request' more classes that way you can use some of the extra things otherwise you'll be bored."

I looked at him with an expression that showed exactly how much I cared, very little, "Is there anything else?" I asked him.

"Actually yeah, some of the people or kids here aren't all half-bloods. This place is for all kinds of magical creatures. NO monsters though that'd be bad. But what I'm saying is that you're not the only person here who has powers or stuff like that." He replied.

I looked at him with confusion, "I kind of figured that out after you said "magical creatures" it was kind of a hint." I laughed lightly.

Haven walked us to what looked like the front commons area, tables were set out and littered with kids of all sizes, and shapes. I saw what he meant when he said some kids other than me had powers.

A kid with spiked up red hair was talking to some other kids only his skin was really different. If you've ever seen _Star Wars_ you'd be able to almost picture this kid, he was like Darth Maul. The kid's skin was decorated with tribal designs that interconnected almost like Celtic symbols.

"That's Paul, he um, well he's called a Zyphrone. You'll learn about many different races." Haven told me while we grabbed plates for our food.

The kid, Paul, had spikes running down his back. However he was wearing a muscle shirt, it reminded me of a dragon. Even Paul's eyes were a different color, his skin wasn't tan though it was white, the tribal-Celtic tattoos or whatever they were a deep blue color.

Besides Paul there were many other kids and people that looked quite different.

"Haven, how does the system work, I mean you have your own house thing right for your 'Patron'?" I asked him.

He looked around the room and then whispered in his cup and the plate he held, suddenly two blueberry pancakes and syrup appeared and his drink filled with something that looked hot, it had the smell of a cappuccino.

"The way its set up here most of the people that are half-bloods do have their own building type, I think the Hermes kids and two others are actually in this building as living quarters. But there are many floors to this building as you have seen. We call this place Castle Omega," he said and smiled, "It started out really small actually then when Grey got here he well, Grey is rich. I don't know how but he is, and he built it up, even now he is trying to figure out another way to add to it. You've seen from the outside how high up it is. But what you don't know is that there is a basement well three floors down."

Haven and I sat down and looked around for our friends, I contemplated looking for Monica or Keri. Instead I brought out my schedule and took a look at it, and then decided I needed more classes.

"Haven, where can I get another handbook? I left mine in my room." I asked him.

He unzipped his bag and brought out a beat up handbook, "use mine, are you looking for class descriptions?"

"No." I flipped through it real quick looking for the classes section where different courses would be. "I'm trying to find out what other courses there are." I said to him.

Haven stood up looked around the room and then sat back down, and looked angry. He muttered under his breath, "great here comes my dear sister."

"Oh Haven how did you get the pink stuff off of you?" I asked him with a sly smile.

"A lake naiad told me."

"A lake Naiad?" I asked him.

"Predicous do I really need to explain or can you just wait for your lessons?" he did look irritated.

Monica and her friends came and sat by us, and so did Damien and David. Followed by them Keri and Dom were laughing at a joke some girl made, her name was Kristin, I heard Dom say her name, she was his age.

Kristin looked like any normal human being, but I watched as she changed shape into a bat and flew at one of the kids at another table. The kids screamed in terror until Kristin changed back to normal form and started laughing while she walked back over to us.

"So uh Kristin, are you a vampire or something?" I asked her, giving Dom a 'watch out' look.

"Who are you?" she asked me, she then turned to look at Dom and she smiled at him. The son of a the sleep god Smiled back at her.

"I'm Predicous, Dom is my brother, not by blood." I smiled.

"Oh-Kay. Well to answer your question, no I am not a vampire, I shift." she said to me with a cocky smile.

I looked at Haven and everyone around us, and their eyes told me she wasn't lying. "What do you mean you shift? What are you?"

"I am-"

"Predicous the bell is about to ring you should head towards you first classes, you'll learn about what Kristin is."

As if on cue the bell rang alerting everyone that school was about to begin, and if I were right about the bell schedule that meant I had almost ten minutes to actually get to class. Reaching my back pocket of my pants I pulled out my class schedule so I could figure out where my classes were. My first class was English two; it's location read out: B1-003, the teacher's name was Brianna Templet. My second class Algebra 2, was located at: U2-602, the teacher had a simple name George Brown, now I've always liked math but I've never been good at it so I figured I'd probably wind up skipping his class. My third class, Biology, This teacher had the weirdest name I've ever seen; Belladonira Vawl and she was located in M1-208, I had no clue what any of that meant besides maybe the names of the teachers. It almost sucked though, I only three classes and they were core classes, my classes down in my hometown were different, I had my three core classes and then we had other classes we could choose from. Anyway I wandered around trying to find my classes, I only found one of them mainly because I had help from a guy named Roberto Bane. I peeked inside room M1-208, sure enough you could tell it was a biology class; beakers and other scientific things were littered around the counters in the back of the room next to sinks, in the corner you could see white gowns most likely used for protection from chemicals and other substances however this was not a chemist class but "the study of the body and other organisms. The down part about it was this was my last class, not my first so I had to get going to find my other classes.

Taking one last look around the room I spotted the teacher, She had reptilian teal skin her hair was a dark shade of red, and when she turned around I got a look at her eyes, luckily though I had bad eyesight but it doesn't miss the fact that her eyes were the same color as her hair. I wanted to walk around get the image of her out of my mind, I could sense Adamete close nearby.

I walked around trying to get the feel of the school better but my time was running short and I still hadn't found my first class, my time was running shorter by the second. Soon enough I had decided to skip school for that day, I wanted to see Adamete. Walking out of the school no one stopped me as I headed towards the Coliseum. A few people were having sparring lessons, and well you think watching a movie is good watching people fight in real life is better these kids moved quick on their feet never falling back, the sight was one worth watching. I turned my back on the Coliseum so I could concentrate without thinking of how awesome the kids down there sparring were. I closed my eyes, relaxing all the nerves and all the muscles in my body; I cleared my mind. I thought in order to contact Adamete I had do this kind of process. I felt another presence brush against my mind lightly, it felt familiar, and then that's when it clicked, I found Adamete. Just as I was about to say something she beat me to the punch.

"_I found you first." _She claimed to me. I could feel her emotions flow from her to me, she was exited and happy.

"_You found me first?" _I began, "_I don't see how, I mean I started to feel for you like ten minutes ago."_

"_I know you did, I had to hurry up and find you before some other being felt your being." _she sounded protective, "_Look when you let loose your mind, your being, around you without any sort of barrier to keep you safe, you risk a lot to happen_."

"_Yeah but I'm safe here in this place aren't I? there are borders to this camp, school castle place_." I said to her.

I could feel her thoughts and emotions again and they seemed to be fighting each other, "_The teachers and Elder beings say this place is the safest place for younglings like yourself and any other magical type of beings, but even the best of them do not see how horrible some of the kids and people here are, I've seen many things but the first one I will show you." _Suddenly I was no longer in myself, I was seeing through Adamete's eyes, a vision, a memory she had stored.

She was eating from the trough, fresh hay was laid down in it. Off outside of the stalls there was yelling, the yelling migrated outside of the stable and to the back. Adamete turned around and found a peek hole to look through to see what was happening. She whinnied loudly but couldn't get over the wind. Adamete watched as two older kids, maybe fifteen yelled and pushed a young kid who looked barely twelve.

The twelve year old pushed them back and did a back roll away from them so they couldn't harm him. "So you think just because your older and are leaders you can do whatever you want!" The young kid yelled, anger obviously boiling.

"Well yes actually, see we run t his place," One of the older kids said as he waved his arms to show the open area, "We don't listen or need to listen to little brats like you who are new to this place, we just put you kids in your place, don't we Sean."

The other kid Sean looked around, small sympathy was formed in his eyes, "Brent c-mon man give the kid some slack, he's the first to actually stand up to us, I'd rather see him win in one of the games, give him a chance."

The kid named Brent pulled out what looked to be a boomerang he tossed it in the air making Sean and the younger boy wince, and then he threw it straight at Sean. Adamete's emotions flared with anger when she saw this happening, however the boomerang didn't hit Sean, Brent took his left hand and put up a stop gesture and then made a grab gesture and turned around towards the kid. The boomerang went flying towards him and this time Brent did nothing to stop it. The boomerang flew into the kids stomach sending him almost six feet from where he stood, the younger kid fell down to his knees and looked up. In his baby blue eyes tears started welling up in the corners.

Brent motioned the boomerang back to him and it flew back into his hands. "Aw, is poor Dem about to cry?" he challenged him, "And you're a son of Ares 'The War God'. Why he would accept you makes no sense."

Dem tried to stand, maybe to protect his fathers name but he clenched at his stomach as the pain was still there, anger replaced the tears in his eyes, it was clear to Brent how angry Dem was.

Finally he got the power boost he needed somehow, stood right up and yelled out. Nothing happened.

Sean, the one who at first was trying to give the kid some 'slack' started laughing and then noticed that Brent stood motionless, fear had replaced his once cocky expression.

Dem yelled again this time bringing his left leg up and then stomped on the ground. The ground around Brent stated to rumble and then a eight foot tall square pillar of earth shot Brent into the air. Sean was no longing laughing he ran and stumbled over pieces of dirt until he reached his Pegasi, Brent still in the air somehow managed to get to his winged horse and he to flew off into the distance leaving Dem there. Dem sat on the ground and started weeping, tears flooded his eyes, and his body trembled. He sat there in that spot, Adaméte watched from the peek hole she had been looking through. After awhile Dem stood up and wiped his eyes off, he walked slowly towards his tethered pegasí holding his stomach. The winged animal bent low for him and he struggled to get on but managed it and then like the other kids flew off into the distance.

"_People no matter who they are can be very cruel"_ Adaméte told me taking me from the memory putting me back in my own being.

"_I knew that already, but what happened to him, Dem I mean, what happened to him after all of that?" _I was curious.

"_I am unsure, that was what you humans call, 'a couple years ago'. He's never showed up back to the field to practice."_

"_You think he's still here though? He couldn't have been older than maybe twelve. But I think…I think he may be kind of like me or, or something like that anyway." _

"_You believe he may possess the element of Earth and you Fire?" she asked me curiously._

"_Look I know it sounds ridiculous but it's worth talking to him about, maybe he has dreams or something," _I looked back at the memory Adaméte shared, looking back at how he caused the earth to obey his command, "_are you almost here, I'm getting bored of standing around."_

"_Maybe if you paid more attention to your surroundings you would have the understanding that I am behind you young one." She nudged my back with her head._

_I turned around and hugged her, letting my emotions flow to her so she knew I was definitely happy to see her. _I looked at my watch for the time but it only showed the date, Tuesday, I had to wait for the time to come up but when it did it had Five, thirty on it which had to have been wrong. Adaméte and I walked around the coliseum and finally became bored just watching people spar. I hopped onto her back and together we flew into the sky. Not thinking I let go of her beautiful mane and put my hands in the air, flying had to be one of the best experiences ever that anyone could feel. The feeling didn't last long, Adaméte pulled into a nose dive nearly sending me off her back.

"_Is there a specific reason you didn't warn me about the nose dive?_" I shouted in her thoughts making her pull up.

"_Sure, I was having fun._" She said and I could hear her laugh lightly.

"_Alright then," I said, "Oh hey I need to check with the barber here we need to cross the lake to get to her but I'm sure you can just sort through my memories to find out where to go."_

It was an awkward feeling almost, feeling her go through my memories but soon she found the destination and pulled out.

Seeing the small barber lady was just the same as when I first met her, still I could feel the power residing inside of her, her green eyes still had the same 'I've seen many things' look.

There were a few other people around getting things done, some were the barbers and some were the ones in the chairs getting hair done or getting manicures, or pedicures or whatever. There were guy barbers and girl barbers, so yes I might have made a small joke about gays but I guess not all male hairdressers are queer.

A young girl walked up to me, she had a name tag on her work uniform it said Kailee on it. She took my hand and shook and then in a very formal voice said, "Hello my name is Kailee is there anything I can do to help you." She put on one of those fake smiles.

"Well I'm not here for introductions but my name is Predicous, I need to speak wi—"

"Ah yes. Ms. P said you were going to show up today at some point, instead of tomorrow, I must take you to her right away," she looked at my hair, "She said she had to give you a special treatment that required her doing, though I don't see why you'd want to change your look sure its old style but your hair is absolutely gorgeous."

Kailee had a faint germen accent which led me to think that maybe somewhere along her bloodline she had germen. Quickly she grabbed my wrist and led me down the hallway bring me room into room. Finally what seemed like five rooms had passed she pushed me inside a door leaving me face to face with the Barber, Ms. P is what Kailee called her but I wandered what her name actually was. She looked me up and down and walked around me, she measured my hair length and the density (thickness) of it. And then she motioned for me to sit in the chair that was off to the right there was a sink attached to it and a very interesting looking headrest. When I sat down I noticed that the fabric wasn't like most of the fabrics used in barber chairs, most were leather. She went to her desk and pulled out a few tools; hair dryer, sheers, short sheers, just barber things to cut hair. Ms. P pushed a button on the side of the chair and I could feel something moving in small circles and another thing moved down, this chair was a massage chair. I had no clue I was so tense and stiff in the muscles until the massage balls went up to my neck, it all felt great, the chair was even heated as well which put a plus in for the chair. I started wondering how much I was going have to give her for this. Ms. P took a few other looks at me pulling my head around like she was trying to find the best way to position the art work. She then looked at me and smiled.

"So same idea as before, light buzz all around, layered top from an eighth of an inch to an inch in the front and layered down the side so it flows good, and then buzz in the back as well maybe half inch from bottom of ear in measure, and then died auburn brown."

"The top can be almost two inches also if that's fine, or you can just do whatever you think would work." I said to her.

"Tomorrow I would have had to cancel our previous appointment, because I was ordered to go so the fact that you showed up today was perfect, now sit back and relax this will take a nice while."

I sat back and laid my head down on the comfortable headrest. The barber wrapped a plastic bag around me and then started on her project she'd been waiting to do. Her hands flew quickly around in my hair, cutting, buzzing, spraying, and moving faster than most human hands could even move, however I managed to fall asleep; possibly from the relaxation and the massage. I didn't go completely asleep a small part of me was conscious, like I could hear everything that was happening but things were still flying by like when you dream. I started wondering what was going on because I could no longer here anything. I waited for a few minutes until I opened my eyes. There was no sign of the old thirteen year old looking green eyed barber, my eyes wandered to the mirror behind me, standing out of the chair I noticed I wasn't wearing the bag on me anymore, and I felt lighter. I looked around for my previous hair, none could be seen. Looking in the mirror I could see just how different I looked, she had dyed my eyebrows and my hair. I must have been pretty much a blonde, I took the contacts out to check my eyes they weren't dyed hazel like I'd hoped, I stuck the contacts back in. The Barber did a great job nonetheless, I wanted to thank her so I walked out of the room and through the many other rooms which I saw had tanning beds in them.

Kailee was waiting for me but impatience won her over and had her eyes lain upon a flat screen TV that was in the corner of the wall. She hadn't seen me walk through the door or get behind her, she had to have been pretty entranced by the movie that was playing, but from what I was seeing it was just some kind of failed romance movie. Kailee was really into it though I decided to sit down and watch part of it with her.

After sitting there to endure the movie all I really got from it was how the and guy were cursed lovers like _Romeo and Juliet_, they weren't supposed to be together age was a serious problem, but the guy wound up in jail for some stupid crime and in the jail he learned a few things he received letters from his lover (his girlfriend), and then finally he got out of jail and was supposed to keep his nose clean and do the right things, finding a job was key but nope he did something stupid yet again he snuck over to his lovers house late one night and got caught, they vowed to keep going, stay together. He knew however that they had a very small chance of staying together, he loved her yes, but he knew he wouldn't see her for a long time, they spoke through love notes, back-n-forth, until he ended up spending two weeks at his grandmother's house and when he got back he tried to contact his girlfriend but couldn't so he waited and waited and he cried through the nights. Christmas was closing in and well boom. New years eve she he got a hold of her through an online website and then called her she told him how she had sent him a message and broke up with him, he told her he never got it, anyway end of story she dumped up.

The movie was corny that's all I had to say about it, "Are you here to escort me out or what's going on?" I asked her trying to get her attention.

Kailee twisted around and stared at me for a few moments and then it clicked, "Oh wow! You look totally different, Ms. P did a great job, you went from beautiful to uh well to more modern." She said to me.

"Beautiful? Look guys can't be beautiful, there is hot, sexy, fine, good looking and handsome." I exclaimed, my pride feeling hurt.

"you forgot gorgeous." She smiled cockily at me.

I laughed at her and rolled my eyes, "whatever, you're impossible. Now what's going on with this situation do I pay or—" I let the last part hang there.

"Oh yeah. Well anything here is pretty much free, and Ms. P told me to show you out when you were done sleeping, and now you're done so let's go." She ushered me out the door and told me by the time I got back it'd be almost noon.

I called for Adaméte and she flew overhead and landed after circling twice. "_I was hardly sure that was you, your darker hair looks much different than your older look, I preferred the old look it reminded me of a picture or something I've seen once." She complained. _She nudged me playfully and had me get on her back for us to take off, the problem was I almost over jumped her and landed on my but in the mud. I had to be careful about things like that. For the past few days that near to my birthday I've been getting stronger, faster, and my body doesn't agree with me with things. Carefully I pulled myself up onto her back careful not to yank on her too much, and then we lifted off.

The noon sun blazed against my back making me feel warm inside. We flew in the front of trees and were about to pass over the lake. We shared memories on the way to the school, I let her se everything. Sharing memories was quicker than I'd expected. Such as I shared my full meeting with Damien, and then I opened my eyes to see where we were letting her sift through some of my childhood, we were barely half way across the lake our emotions were almost overpowering.

We landed in front of very large steel building, which was about a fifteen minute walk to the school. Adaméte left to go and do whatever, play around with the other animals, or 'whatever', but I wanted to explore the inside of the huge steel building. The front door was about the size of a simple small garage door, I pushed a button and it opened up to a elevator which listed down the side were six buttons with abbreviations next to them. I pushed the first button which had 'FR' next to it, instead of moving like most elevators there was a grinding noise behind me. Turning around I saw that it was a door. Understanding dawned on me, the main door led into the elevator which you pushed a button on the panel side and then either the elevator would move down and open or it would stay put and the door would open. I walked through the opened door and first I was puzzled by what I was seeing but slowly I started realizing what 'FR' meant, it meant free running. Looking around the area I saw just how big the inside of the place was, huge was a understatement, if you took a football field and put it with a soccer field that's about how big this place was. The floor/room I was in had a lot Olympic type equipment except there were extra things to it. On one side of the place you could see large square trampolines, Olympic poles, mats, well basically any gymnastic equipment you'd see only slightly more advanced. On another side fake grass was laid out with a cement pavilion on it along with 'park things', a small wooden border surrounded a perimeter of small rocks and a swing-set, along with monkey bars that were almost three feet away from each other, a grind rail that I guess you sit on, and a bar-set: three bars connected and difference in height, one bar was five feet high, another was seven, and the last was almost ten feet. Also inside of the border were benches. The pavilion had picnic tables in it along with trash cans. The pavilion stood out of the ground maybe a full foot and a half. There was also an upstairs to the area, square trash cans were evenly placed within range of one another and they were almost five foot in half inches tall.

At the end there was a room and through a window you could see the inside, it was a room with slanted walls and a slanted ceiling that went to a point like a roof top, on the walls, ceiling and floor, mats were on them connected together like one big mat room a few kids were inside of it doing things, in the middle of the room was a small foam box pit, I guess for soft landing. The kids in the room were running up the walls and doing back flips, or front flips, some even just jumped off the wall and into the pit.

_Nathan would have loved to see this place,_ I thought to myself. I walked back to elevator deciding to go back to my room so I could get out some things, I wanted to come back to this place and try it out. Once I reached the elevator door to head back, a guy who was jumping around doing different types of acrobatic maneuvers in the Olympic area ran up to me.

"Hey man, you're not leaving just yet are you?" He sounded like a personal trainer, and trust me I know plenty of them.

I waited before I was going to answer trying to observe him, see what he really wanted, he looked to be in his early twenties maybe, he was short, with bleach blonde hair and really blue eyes.

"I'm just looking around, I'm going to come back later, I don't exactly have the right clothes on for the stuff." I said honestly.

"Ah. So you're a newbie, you coming to the soccer game tonight then?" He replied.

"There's a soccer game today?"

"yep at seven, thirty." He looked over on the wall to his left, paper was pinned to it with listings of things, "That paper over there has game listings, times, places, anything, there's more papers attached. Were having a home game today, a different team is coming in to go against us, we might win, we might not, all I know is we've never faced this team before, there Persians or something like that."

I looked towards the elevator, sure it was large but no way would it fit an entire team in it. "And how do the teams get in, I mean that elevator isn't going to fit any more than maybe twelve people packed, a team consists of almost eighteen people."

He laughed and said, "There's an outside floor elevator, kind of like a two car garage, there's two of them actually one on both sides of the building, its big enough for the busses to fit only the busses just unload the kids and then the coach pushes a button which moves the floor down to the correct sports floor."

"I see, well I'm going to get going there are things I need to get done before I come back here, the name's Predicous." I put my hand out for him to shake.

His eyes moved suddenly but then he obliged the offer of a handshake, "Pleased to meet you, I'm Josiah," he made a quizzical look and added, "you said Predicous?"

"Umm I sure did, yeah, that's my name…why?"

He started to look nervous and tried to mask it, "Oh, no reason just trying to remember it is all."

He walked off without saying bye, which meant something bothered him. Either Josiah thought my name was weird which wouldn't surprise me, or there was something else that was bigger than that that troubled him, I planned on finding out after the game. Now there's something I hate about things and it's not knowing the truth and just not knowing things.

I walked outside and a thought struck me that I just missed almost a whole school day, I started wondering if they had sick days or tardies in the school system here. I walked through the farming fields and it reminded me of how I used to help my grandfather pick tomatoes and strawberries, and other things from his garden, this place wasn't much different it was a farm-garden. Vegetables and ground fruits grew all around where I walked so I had to watch my step. Again I was reminded of my family.

I fell to my knees and looked at the ground to steady myself. Suddenly I was feeling dizzy or something because the ground seemed to move even though I wasn't moving. I closed my eyes to fight a wave of nausea; after it passed I opened my eyes. No longer was I in the garden field I was kneeling in the midst of a giant statue of some kind of man, he had wings outstretched, and long hair laid on his shoulders. I had no idea what was going on, somehow I was in someone's body, only I didn't control it I could hear their thoughts, feel their emotions, and feel the ground underneath the feet of whoever I was.

"Predicurseus, get down here, you must quit hiding. We need you for the coming battle." Someone below yelled.

_Wonderful they sent Shep to come get me, don't they know I do not want to fight. _I heard Predicurseus think to himself. It was a flash back, it had to be, it wouldn't be the first time I saw one of his flashbacks but why was I having them.

"Why don't you come up Shep?" Predicurseus yelled down as he walked towards the opening of the temple he was in.

"You know I'm not like you, I can't hardly jump that high, you come down here." Shep complained.

I heard Predicurseas think, _My kind is becoming weak, a simple incantation and he'd be up here he doesn't need wings to do things, I'd give mine up if I knew it'd do any good._ Predicurseas began speaking lightly, a language I've never heard but a trigger in my brain told me I did. When He stopped speaking Shep appeared on his back inside of the temple. "All you had to do was say a simple chant and you would be up here just as I am up here."

"Maybe…Look we're about to start a battle down there, the Olympios are sided with Giants and other lower gods, along with different beings of this world, I even have believe humans are sided with them as well. We, the Nyphilim need you to lead us. The elders have even agreed that you are vital to our future existence." Shep said.

Predicurseas turned to look at his father, the statue, "Shep I am just like any Nyphilim the difference is I believe more. The Elders are scared for the own survival they don't care of us, they've lived this long and they want to keep living, the elders were among the last Niphilim, they however lost their wings somehow and have never explained it, my father who was the youngest of the Niphilim still had his wings when he went back up." He turned to Shep, "The Niphilim made the downfall because they did not believe. Many of them died and before some of them passed on a new race of them came out of it all, us the Nyphilim. You know I hate killing. Have Thérion lead the battle."

Shep sat down on the temple floor and crossed his legs, he wore the new armor that was forged from the hide of a Kusaam, I felt Predicurseus' pain.

"Thérion…He's more likely to turn on the Elders than anyone else, you know that. He values that of which most of us refuse, him and his rebels. That demon has no love for life, he studies the darkest of our side"

"Indeed he does, but I've been in his mind Shep, I know what he truly wants and desires, he has family but he's never really felt like he belonged. Thérion is my brother, he is no demon." Predicurseus said and then ran and jumped out of the mouth of the temple.

The vision changed. "You are a fool and a coward brother. How could you join those Olympios wretches, and fall in love with one for that matter. LOVE! A simple yet pathetic term, used by God." Thérion kicked Predicurseas in the ribs area.

I felt him clench his fists but relax, "I came here to make peace and you put me in chains. Thérion the Elders are using you! We've fought this battle far too long, the Elders do not care of the survival of the Nyphilim they care of the survival of themselves, they are indeed the last of the Niphilim but they have grown corrupt with the knowledge and lust for higher power, God has tried over and over to bind them but they still manage to find foot holes and survive off of our ancestors."

Thérion had tears in his eyes, "We are your family, YOUR FAMILY! The Elders…I was mistaken of them, they didn't try to keep me out only teach me through pushing. I…I must have been mistaken of you as well, you are not Nyphilim, you are not family." Thérion backed away. He took off his helm and through it down, revealing his darkened eyes, which were supposed to be a certain type of blue color. His being was full of darkness. "I am leaving, you are a prisoner, a spoil of war," he turned to face one of the guards, "Put him with the other prisoners." He snatched up his helmet and strode out of the battle tent.

Standing up, the chains on Predicurseus rattled, rage was filling within him, he knew there was no way of convincing Thérion for a treaty, he knew that by being a prisoner he would have no escape until the end of days. The guards came nearer to him swords and shields at the ready, they knew how dangerous he was but also knew that if they didn't imprison Predicurseus that they'd have to answer to a higher authority. He was not about to give up. Letting his anger and sadness overrule him he yelled out sending a wave of energy to the guards which sent them flying out of the tent. The shackles and chains fell off, and Predicurseus looked out where the guards had flown out, the moon was high and large in the sky, besides that it was also full and blue. There was work to be done and his time was running out, his time has come. He had to seek out who he needed.

Suddenly the vision starting fading away and off to my left someone was sitting in a chair tapping their fingers nervously. I opened my eyes and blinked back some tears; Predicurseus' emotions were still with me. I tried to sit up and then groaned when I found out it was hard to do.

"Oh thank the gods. Predicous are you alright?" A young girl said.

I was about to jump out of where I was laying and run for it, I didn't know where I was, or what was going on but then reality came and so did _my_ memory. I was Predicurseus for so long it was hard to comprehend what was real.

"Keri?" I asked, trying to slow my heart rate. I looked to the direction at which I heard her voice.

"Yep, I'm here, are you here?" she sounded concerned.

"What the hell does that even mean?" I accidently slurred my words.

She laughed, "Yeah you're here," she turned on a lamplight so she could see better. I was blinded for a few seconds, but I adjusted. "I'm glad you're okay. I was on duty in the fields, they have me picking the fruits now for once of my classes. I saw you…just lying there on the ground you looked like you were in pain, and no one else was around to help me get you anywhere so I had my Pegasí help me and trust me when I say this it wasn't easy. I was going to take you to the infirmary but…it was already packed with kids, nurses were running back and forth from patient to patient, so you're in my room now."

"So—you brought me here because I was in some kind of trouble, brought me to your place instead of getting the headmaster of the school or something?"

Keri rolled up the curtains in her room, something I didn't have, light came in but not much, it must have been later in the day, maybe six p.m.

"Ya know something? I barely recognized you with your new haircut and your eyes seem normal, like when I first met you, but like I said I barely recognized you, if it weren't for that small scar on your upper lip I would have thought you were some other guy, I would have just taken you to the infirmary. When I got here I had a friend help me get you in here. Anyway, you fried my old chair, you yelled and shook and then your hands caught fire and so did my chair, so I had it replaced and I set you in my bed, and got a nicer chair. You started speaking a weird language in a barely different voice. It's hard to explain actually, but it stopped. And here we are now and your awake in my bed." She stopped and then came and sat next to me, I realized covers were over me keeping me warm. "Predicous you were out almost two days, it's the eleventh of February…almost two days...you started to whisper and I then stopped so I sat down in the chair but I forgot to turn on any lights, and then I fell asleep and heard you wake up." She concluded.

I did feel extremely wore out, whoever knew sleep could actually harm you that way ha. _Woah wait, she said two days. But how I've had longer dreams before and even then I'd only slept maybe a total of twelve hours. Two days is forty-eight hours but minus the time I've been up so possibly actually twenty four…that's pretty messed up._

Keri looked at me with a confused expression, "What's wrong?"

"Keri, you said I've missed two days…" I let it sink in, "what day is it?"

"It's Friday, I took off school today to make sure you'd wake up okay, but I want to know what happened to you."

I lied to her, "I'm not sure, I was heading to the school and then…Well I woke up here."

She looked at me closer and then for a second I thought she'd push me, I could tell she wasn't buying it. But instead of pushing me for information she just stood up and walked to her bathroom. I could hear the shower start and then figured she must be taking a shower. The bag Haven gave to me was set against her dresser. I pulled out a notebook and wrote down the events that took place for the past few days, I didn't want to forget what I saw. Those visions, flashbacks, whatever they were, were Predicurseus' and I was witnessing them through his eyes, thoughts and emotions. I began connecting the dots, Olympos must have meant The Olympians- the Greek and Roman gods, The Nyphilim…I needed to pull that secret book out and study up. There were lots of things on my to-do-list, like how I never was able to talk to that guy about why my name freaked him out. I still needed to find Dem to ask him about his earthly powers or however the best explanation is.

While I sat there thinking about all the things that needed to be done, and things I wanted to do, I hadn't noticed Keri was waiting for me to get out of her room, she was done with her shower.

"Your aloud to leave ya know, I was just keeping you here because I didn't know what else to do with you. I would like to change so out you go." She said to me.

I couldn't believe almost two days passed, I didn't see how that could happen. Sure maybe hours, that happens when your asleep, but days…it just didn't make sense. I found Haven with David and Damien they were discussing homework, Monica spotted me and gave me a wink making me blush. I thought about talking to Haven and them but decided to just go to my room, if I'd been gone almost two days they'd ask questions. I unlocked my dorm door and stepped in, I wanted to shower, and I wanted to think. I pulled my bag off and relaxed for a few minutes, I would have fallen asleep but someone ruined it.

"Oh c-mon, I just sat down." I complained getting out of my bed. I opened the door and Dom was there, "Oh hey, come in."

"How've you been?" He asked.

"better than you," I said jokingly," I've been better, but what's up kid, what have you been up to?"

"Well actually I wanted to talk to you about some things…" he looked troubled, "Dreams being one of them, the other requires more fun, so it's better."

I'd forgotten that Dom was the son of the Dream god, "Dreams? Well let's hear the better news first." He sat down on my recliner and I sat down on my bed.

"Ok, well I found out about three days ago about a game. It's a full on Island game, most the people on this island play, it's called Conquer & Capture & Survive, or CCS—" He paused letting the first bit sink in, "And well it's a two day long game, anyway I was wondering if you'd like to join the team I'm on?"

I looked around my room, trying to buy time to think, _maybe that Earth kid will be there, if Dom is old enough than he's got to be to_, I thought to myself.

"Tell me about it." I said to him.

"Well uh, I can give you the basics but they'll tell you the rules and such. You capture the enemy stronghold, you can put people in the prison, dungeon, you can use weapons and armor. There are four strongholds for four teams, the Woods area is huge bigger than what it looks like, and I took a stroll through it with someone. Like I said earlier you get to wear armor, use weapons. We've have three days to get ready, today was the last day to enlist for it, and well I thought of you."

"Aw, well that's just flattering," I joked with him, "I don't exactly have any armor though and well for weapons all I have is a retractable staff thing, and a simple long bow that's barely done."

"Well they give you a choice of armor and weapons, but if you enlist in this your also able to go to the smith shop and construct your own things, and like I said we have almost three days to get ready. The people who participate and are in school get a school pass, so are you in?"

I looked at him with a blank expression, and then said, "Dom, I haven't even gone to the school yet, but give me the sign up papers." I rolled my eyes.

He smiled and pulled out some papers and handed them to me, they were quite a bit like job applications, only difference was I was signing up for something where I could maybe lose my life, no big deal. Also I found the paper that showed it was about the enlistment school pass, I signed that as well. Then I handed him the papers and he did two things: one-he handed me a booklet and two-he swiped the bottom of the papers in this small machine that was about the size of a small paperback book, a small box popped up and made a flash in my room, I could barely see after that. He then handed me a small card with my information on it, like a driver's license, It was my 'gaming ID'.

"Ok. Now the bad thing…" he said, "Being the son of that dream, it allows me to sneak into people's heads and dreams. Anyway I wanted to find out where you were so I could get you to join the game. It was sometime yesterday, When I did find you, and trust me it was hard, when I did find you I had to push further in, you weren't in your normal dream state, I'm not sure what was going on, but I pushed further and when I found you it wasn't you? I had to occupy a body in your well whatever you want to call it in order to stay with you. I was some kind of guard, there were three others in the room we were in, and well it was a tent. I looked at you, like I could feel your presence in the guy in front of me, but like I said it wasn't you exactly, the person I saw had black wings, His hair was a golden color literally, his eyes weren't like yours, they were a really bright blue color that seemed to fade into the white of his eyes, there was a tattoo on his arm, and his name, Predicurseus, your name is very close to his." Dom was looking around frantically like he was paranoid, and then he locked eyes with me.

I stood up without a word and walked to my book's hiding spot and pulled it out. "Dom no one can know about the events that are about to occur and the events you witnessed in my vision. Okay?" I started flipping through the book, I was able to translate most of what it said but some of the words still seemed hard to look through. "I don't completely understand what's going on, but I was chosen for something big," I stopped for a breath, my heart rate going faster, I took the contacts out of my eyes to reveal their true color, "I have a small understanding that I am a reincarnation of that other guy you saw. Predicurseus is a much older species, a much older being than the gods, I am, he is, what they called a Nyphilim." I showed him the book.

Dom looked at me like I was crazy and then said, ""so your saying you have wings?"

"What? No, I think im only half of what he is, like I have a lot of the same traits as him and some powers but im missing things, like wings and even stronger powers."

Dom shook his head in disbelief, "Maybe you have to reach some type of age, like eighteen, or whatever age was the superior age limit, like ours is eighteen to become an adult."

"I don't think it's like that, these beings were before Adam and Eve I think, that or barely after them. And well this isn't a power of the Nyphilim im sure it's not, so watch." I held my hand out and concentrated, pulling out memories that could upset me I knew I had to control how much it upset me though. Suddenly my hand caught fire and my memory burst through harder than I meant it to and the flame shot at my bathroom door, whoa! I jumped across my bed and tried putting the fire out. Dom sat there and just watched, awestruck.

Dom exclaimed, "That was amazing! Can you turn into a dragon to?" excitement littered his voice.

"Dom I can't control the fire that well yet obviously, I cannot turn into a dragon nor would I want to. I think…well I think I have the fire/heat element."

"There's no way you're an elementalist, those aren't real, but hey I gotta get these papers to the high council so they know you're going to play. He walked over to the door and opened it up but before he walked out to go deliver I stopped him.

""Dom, I said, he turned around, "No one can know about any of this, ever."

"You super dark secret of fire and weird stuff is safe with me, I'll be coming back tomorrow to get you, the game itself starts on the thirteenth."

Dom left, I knew he was the son of the dream god but for him to be able to do what he did he had to have a lot of power, but he wasn't a god he was just a minor-demi-god. I walked over to grab my book off my bed and flip to the back to see the summary of the Nyphilim when I saw a figure sitting in my recliner, they were almost invisible.

"Who are you..?" I asked them.

"You can see me?" they asked me.

"Well barely."

"Odd…you can even understand me…"

"Look who and what are you?" I was beginning to get agitated.

"I am the spirit of this Island, the spirit of many. This Island has been through a lot even before this building was placed here, before any of these buildings were here."

"Ok, but what are you doing here, in my room in general."

"You interest me, Aldwin told me you were coming—"the spirit said to me.

"You know Aldwin?" my curiosity started to spike.

"Yes indeed, he was of the first to come here for refuge from the world around this island."

"Is he here now?" I asked.

"I am unable to answer your question, and now I believe I will go rest."

"But I still don't understand who you are, what's your name?"

"What's a name but name in itself, what we are define who we are, our nature is what we are." And with that the spirit disappeared.

I walked over to my bed and laid down, trying to decipher what the spirit meant when it said the thing about a name. _Impossible._

By now it was getting late, I wanted to go and thank Keri for helping me. I didn't take me long to walk over to her dorm but it did take me awhile to knock on her door. I knocked three times before I left, no one answered. I walked around hoping that maybe I'd find her around the school, after I couldn't find her I gave up and went back to my dorm. Grabbing my bow and rod I went out in search of the smith-shop.

It didn't take me long to find it, a glowing Hammer and iron hung over the door. There were plenty of burly people working on items and projects. Some of the people were skinny, and head the same color hair, some were big. Instead of standing in the doorway looking dumb I walked in and made my way to what looked like an office. I knocked and just like Keri's dorm no one answered. I was about to walk back when someone grabbed my wrist and pulled me into the office, their grip was stronger than any grip I've ever felt, like an iron grip.

When I looked up I was face to face with a huge guy, he wore one of those mechanics outfits and a name tag was placed on the right side: Barbarous.

"Are you looking to start a project kid?" he said to me looking angry.

"Yes sir, I am." I held my stance, and made sure to look him in the eyes in hope that maybe if made it look like I was tough to he wouldn't try to pummel me.

He smiled and started laughing, "well then you don't seem to get scared like most the newcomers here get when they first meet me, most of them stutter or well…yep anyway. I will assign you a station, what's your name?"

"My name is Predicous."

"Uh, how do you spell you it?"

I remembered a joke my friends and I once did and put it into play, "I.T." I laughed and then said, "My name is spelled, P-r-e-d-i-c-o-u-s."

"Some name you got there kid. Alright down to work at your station there will—oh hey you're gonna be at that game on the thirteenth, good, good. As I was saying, at your station there will be a large cabinet, inside that cabinet are the tools you will need to do create whatever project or item or whatever just make something and I hope you don't mind fire."

I walked over to where he told me I would be working and then opened the cabinet. It was full of different types of metal, such as steel, iron, titanium, aluminum, and other metals I wasn't familiar with.

"Those are if your going to make 'for-show' items, if your looking for the good stuff for weapons or armor, look on the other side of the cabinet." A guy said to me, he was passing me with a wheel barrel that had a few things in it.

"Oh, thanks." I said to him, trying to look like I knew what I was doing.

"I'm Warren, I'd stop to shake your hand but im kind of busy, you see, but if you need help later I'll be here." He said then half jogged out of the room with the wheel barrel.

"Fun. I always seem to meet new people who just want to get away from me." I said to myself.

A guy in the station next to me yelled over, "good luck with that game on Tuesday Dem, maybe you'll win this time, ha-ha."

I jerked my head to who said it and saw a door shut, the door led to the other side of the smith-shop. _If Dem worked here to then maybe I'd get a chance to speak to him_. I thought to myself, making a mental note.

I searched the cabinet for the other type of metal, before I opened it I noticed something was scratched off the front, like a name plate. In place of the older name that was in it was my name. I rifled through the types of iron and metal but mainly there was this bronze type of iron, but moving it around there was a large box which had different types of engravings on it and something was written into the bottom as I turned it over. The box was maybe twenty by sixteen inches in size, with small hinges that supported the lid. There was dust almost all over the box until I used a cloth and wiped it off, and when I opened the box it revealed eight large pitch-black iron blocks. As I moved the box around in my hands to put it in a better position I noticed how the box along with the type of iron was barely twenty pounds. I began to look around, _was it possible that this box belonged to someone else?_ I didn't try and put it back, instead I picked out what I thought I needed.

My dad always told me I was really good with intuition but the thing is I thought I was just a really good guesser. Like the hands of the barber my hands flew around grabbing tools I needed, smashing the black iron down, bending it, forcing it, I was like a robot. I could feel myself controlling the fire, making it hotter, cooling it down. Even while the blade was in the fire I was able to bend it around, I felt like I knew what I was doing. I spent the next four hours on creating my new weapons; two swords. I wanted to make them like the ones I'd seen at Haven's only I wanted to add my own touch.

I grabbed some of the golden iron that was in the cabinet and melted it in a pot and let it cool but before it could turn back to solid I painted the parts of the edges of my first blade making each streak an inch long and leaving an inch and a half space between. I made the second blade the same way; twenty and three-fourths inches long, three and three-eighths inches wide, one-fourth of an inch in thickness from the base, double edged and golden strips only difference was before the blades were fully done I stuck them back in the fire and then took them out and with the iron pencil I absent mindedly etched the symbol of the Nyphilim the one I saw on the back of the book. I shook my head and marveled at how I knew all of that information. I knew I still had to make the hilts for the swords but I knew it was getting late. I'd worked past supper, and even the little gathering thing they do. No one was in the shop anymore except me, which made me feel embarrassed. When I was about to walk out of the exit door I saw Dom out in the yard of the place, I decided to wait and see if he came in.

"I see your already working on your weapon, err uh weapons I guess. How'd you make them so fast?" Dom was stunned at the swords, "And what kind of iron is that, sure im new but I've been in here and I've never seen anyone use that kind before, and I like the golden part you put to them that's neat."

While Dom talked a million miles an hour without taking a breath I noticed how tired he looked, "You must have been running around all day recruiting people for the game, and I've been here all day working, no breaks." I said to him.

"Yeah cool, well im going to work to, finish up my daggers, I started working on them the day I saw this place which was almost a four days ago, but what's that symbol you have on them?" he went to pick them up and when I was about to stop him he got there first and burned his hands, the blades weren't done cooling.

Dom yelled in pain. "Hey are you ok?" I asked concerned.

"Yeah I'm fine, just you're supposed to cool iron through water."

"I know. I did cool these in water." I reached over and picked them both up and my hands started turning red but they didn't burn, Dom was about to warn me but he saw how I didn't flinch or anything. "Dom that's the symbol of the Predicurseus' clan." I balanced the blades in my palms and flicked my wrist sending the blades in a circle. There was a low hum and then it quieted down a little. They blades started turning a different color when I started thinking about how Predicurseus felt.

"How do you know what clan he was? And ha, your blades are mood blades that's cool" Dom said.

I replied to him, "I know because I felt him when I made these blades, and because when I was him in my dreams, or visions whatever you want to call those, I could see his memories, and uh what's purple mean?"

"Ah, well I'm going to work on my daggers."

"You're making daggers?"

"Yep, sure am. Two of them, their well different than most daggers I had to have someone help me do what I wanted, but here I'll show you."

We walked over to where his station was, it was located a floor below the basement section. He unlocked his cabinet and revealed practically the same type of irons that were stored in my cabinet only difference was he didn't have some box. He pulled out two curved objects and set them on the station-table.

Dom noticed me eying the color of his blades, "Their called celestial bronze, used for killing monsters, and protecting oneself from another weapon."

I noticed how he was wrapping leather around the handles, when he was done he put the daggers in his hands, the blades curved around protecting his knuckles, "Ok here's where im confused, you have these really nice daggers, but how are you going to protect yourself."

Dom smiled at me, "The reason it's taking me so long to finish these is because I've been working on more than one project at a time and at different days. The armor I've made and the shield are both tested and ready to use, these however aren't done yet and aren't tested." He rummaged through his cabinet and pulled out an outfit, armor, and a shield.

"These," he said, "took forever to make, I used different types of iron because I wasn't sure which was stronger, the rounded small shield is light weight and fits on my back when I wear the armor which protects my back, the armor is light weight but extremely strong, most kids make armor the way the Greeks and Romans did back in the day but I wanted to do my own thing with it." His shield was simple but thick enough to rebound any attack, however it had no character to it, "When im done this year im going to heat these babies up and either write something or well I'll see." His armor was magnificent however, plain but amazing, he made gauntlets and bracers and grieves, and it was almost like a turtle neck shirt they way he had the top but it was simple to see how it worked. It had bulbs on the front where your abdominals would be and also down the sides were spikes from whatever, the bottom of the front and back had a lip that covered the groin and but area. His outfit I saw was made of a type of skin from an animal or creature, he had gloves and then he had boots. A helmet was hung up in his cabinet but there was nothing special about it just an ordinary helm.

Seeing all of what he had started making me jealous, I'd just been working on my blades. I went back to my station after talking to Dom about the coming game, and searched around my cabinet for something to use to make the hilts of my swords, I found many different types of wood and bones I could use but there was another box with the same writing on it. I opened it up and inside was eight twelve inch granite looking block pieces, they were white with grey veins. I lifted two of them out and tried to estimate what the weight was, when I decided I liked them I pulled out a couple of them, I knew what to use them for, the hilt of my swords.

Constructing the hilts took a very short amount of time. The part that took the longest was designing the guard. I made it curved and designed it to have an overhang to guard the hand better. It was inlaid with a gold and silver color. The pommel was simple however; a boxed structure with a two and half inch blade spike at the bottom. The handle was wrapped in strong blood red leather strips, leaving just a little bit of the white granite showing. The hardest part of it however was shaping the granite I found out if it was heated I could use the large table saw, the grinder and a couple other machines used for smithing. When the hilts were finished I inserted the blades, it was a snug fit, and to make it where they wouldn't pop out I unraveled some of the leather and put a bolt in the hilt where the blade was in order for it to stay in one spot.

Finally when finishing those I had two more projects, the scabbards. I decided to do those the next day so I could get some sleep. I locked the swords in the cabinet and then walked back through the hall to go back outside, the master-smith was still in his office, however he was passed out in his reclined chair, his mouth wide open and snoring.

I thought about contacting Adaméte but I knew It was probably too late, curfew was up, I was going to have to sneak into the school and back into my room. I shook my head and looked at the moon. Things were clearer than they used to be, my eyesight was still bad but other things were clearer like being able to read more of those pages from the book

It was funny even though I had bad eyesight I could see outlines of things, only…they were in a very different color. I made it to the front doors and luckily I remembered to bring my lock pick, and sure enough it was easy to get into the school only before I did I heard screeching not far from me. Bolting inside I shut the doors behind me and locked them, making sure they wouldn't budge. I looked around trying to make sure there weren't any other screeching things, I saw a flashlight in the hall shining into another hall I had to make it to my room before they saw me.

Somehow I felt myself be concealed by the darkness, I felt like the light was bending around me allowing me to move quickly, silently, and unseen to my room. I peeked out my door, and then peeked inside my room making sure no unwelcomed guest was sitting in my recliner again, the whole thing with the weird beings sitting in my chair was just creepy. I hadn't gone to school in the past few days, and now I was going to be playing some game, which puts me still out of school. I wondered if they would count it against me. I fell to into a deep slumber and for once my dreams were practically normal. Right like I could have any normal dreams, when my life has changed the way it has, everything I do, everything I've seen in the past few months is not the same as it was.

The dream started out as any other normal dream actually, I was running with my friends enjoying myself, but the fun happy moment didn't last long, my dream switched. I was half way around the world in a bamboo forest, I heard yelling and people fighting. Walking towards the sounds I kept low making sure I'd be out of sight. And there they were, the kid who through the huge ice daggers at me, and the guy who was training him. They were going hard. Terry had two daggers and was fighting the man who told him to throw those ice daggers, at first I thought they were fighting but I realized they both were holding back a little bit. I sat down to watch and then starting wondering if I could contact Terry with my mind, I breathed in an out and then created a few walls around my mind and set out to find Terry's mind. It was harder than I thought I crossed over many different beings, animals, and insects. I found him, I started softly poking around but his mind was well blocked, my guess was even while he was fighting he was blocking his trainer from entering his mind to catch him off guard, speaking of his trainer I felt another presence trying to breech Terry's mind. I found a small space to crawl through a simple spot that held him in the current world so he couldn't forget things, I saw a few of his memories.

"_Terry?"_ I asked him.

"_Who's this?"_ He questioned, caution in his voice, I could feel him struggle harder against his trainer and also struggle to keep him out.

"_I'm Predicous, but listen the guy who's training you is—_"

"_A master of the old arts, his name is Brénereus, look I don't know who you are I think he's mentioned you but—" _He started saying.

"_No you don't understand, the only reason he's teaching you is so he can gain the power of the full Nyphilim, he's low on it because he's had to survive, he wanted to have me but I declined his offer, he's using you."_ I said to him.

I could feel him contemplate what I said and as soon as he was about to say something I feel his mind go haywire as a strong force of power through him into a nearby rock.

"You have got to be more prepared Thérion, whatever is troubling you, you had better find control over it." Brénereus said an laughed. I contracted my being from Terry's in order to see what happened, and then Brénereus spotted me and smiled coldly. "So you are what is troubling him, why don't you go back to your little world wherever you are at and leave me be so I may train this child.

I tried to summon whatever power I had but nothing happened, I started walking towards them, and then said, "Look, I was brought here somehow, and I won't leave, I know everything." I felt myself contracting more, my dream was ending.

"NO!" I yelled and sat up in my bed. Looking at the clock, only four a.m. I knew the teachers would be up at this time so I knew some kids would be to. I paced around my room, I found out what that guy's name was. I even learned a few other things when I went through Terry's memories for a short time. He had something like I had something it was the water element, however he was able to turn it to ice, _so if he can turn his to ice I wonder if I can turn mine into…lava._ I thought to myself, I had stopped pacing. I walked out of my room remembering I had to meet with Dom at somewhere in the coliseum he didn't exactly say where at though. I hopped in the shower and enjoyed the heat of the water, as it started going cold I concentrated on trying to heat it up…I busted the shower head making the water hose me down until I turned it off. _Looks like I'm going to need a new shower head…_Even though I had that book to read I still haven't read it yet I was afraid of it, also it wouldn't help me to control my fire element. Somehow Terry could control his better than me, and I'm sure I've had more time to learn to control the fire.

I walked around the school concentrating on as little fire as I could make, but then spotted Monica, I didn't want to freak her out. A small flame appeared in my hand and then I tried to put it out but couldn't seem to so before she turned and saw me I started walking towards her holding the hand with the fire behind my back.

"Hey!" she said exited to see me, "Where've you been, you like dropped off the radar for a while."

I laughed lightly then said, "Well Monica, I've been busy," I waited for the fire to go out and then after I cleared my mind it finally went out.

"Is something burning?" she asked me.

"Umm no?"

I turned around and faked looking around until she yelled. "Your jacket is on fire!"

"Oh would you look at that," I said as the fire started getting bigger, "wonder how that happened." I put my hand on the fire to put it out.

Monica nearly dropped out of her skin, "How'd you catch fire?"

The look in her face told me she was afraid of fire, and in the faint light we had I could see I was right, her aura was a shade of hazel.

"Well I have no idea, one moment I was walking next is see you and poof "Fire!"" I laughed at her, "You're scared of fire aren't you?"

"No…it's just…bad things have happened to me before…" she said to me quietly. I didn't want to push her, something had definitely happened to her.

"Ok," I said, "Well what are you doing up so early anyway?"

"I'm going to the Coliseum for something, it's kind of secretive newbies don't really know about it."

"Well I do, you're going to the meeting down there for the coming game that is gonna go on tomorrow night right?"

"Well umm, yeah. Wait is that why you're up so early to?" she asked me.

"Sure is." I smiled at her. I noticed how short I actually was, I was barely a few inches taller than her, she was maybe 5'3, and I was probably 5'5 by now. I laughed as I realized how much I'd grown, a full five inches in the past four months.

We decided to walk together, we didn't really talk though, and something told me she had something pretty big on her mind. I did find out that here and I were most likely going to be on different teams, Dom had told me we were going to be blue team, Monica said she was probably going to join gold team. There four teams, gold, bronze, purple, and blue. We walked inside the doors and spotted everyone sitting in a circle, there was probably a total of seventy people in the group. A few more people came up from behind us, and there were a few older looking people standing at podiums, they must have been like representatives. I spotted a people I knew such as Dom, Keri, David and Haven they were there, along with a few of Monica's friends I watched her go an sit by them and I sat next to Haven and Dom.

"When does this announcement thing start?" I asked.

Dom replied first, "well actually I was about to start a few minutes ago but you and a few others walked in, those doors are locked now."

Staying there was hectic people kept talking about how crazy the game was going to be, like the maiming of someone was very incredible. The rules were: No maiming, No summoning, No illegal actions, and just capture the other opponent's base, there were going to be four bases. We had the choice to team up with another base or go solo as a uni-team. We had the choices of retreat, keep fighting, or surrender-if we were about to lose. Once a base was taken we had to defend that base and our own base and we had the choice to keep trying to get the other bases, after the first full day a count of uninjured people would happen along with who had the most bases when that happened the two winners of the first round would go back to their original base, that left two other bases wide open since no other team would be there to defend, however those bases didn't matter, sure there'd be extra items but you had to protect your home base at all costs, now the team you sided with if you did if they had fewer people then what they had before you lose them as a team and they are forced off the field, if they have a good amount of people left then they have a choice to either keep helping your team or they can take over one of the open bases, If they choose to be with your team then they share your base. Weapons and shields can be used, so can magical items and other things.

They handed out a few things to the team leaders, and then whoever signed up for whatever team they were for received the armor issued for that team along with a choice of weapons. How they did that was pretty amazing. A wall full of armor erupted from the ground revealing rows and rows of different sizes and types of armor, next to that was another wall that was full of weapons. I decided even though my swords were done I still didn't armor I walked up and took hold of the blue teams armor and hefted it off of the hooks it was on, the armor included the breastplate, grieves, and other accessories that belonged to it. The armor was almost thirty pounds.

I didn't know about anyone else but this armor was heavy I wasn't about to run around in it if I could barely move, instead of going to the forge to build my own armor I walked over to the stables and called Adaméte, and once she came I rushed into the smith-shop to grab my swords and test them out somewhere. I wanted to go somewhere where I could start my own training with the armor I had acquired. I struggled putting the armor on while we were in the air, but once I did I felt heavy. We dropped down in a slightly wooded place, few trees were chopped down, and there was a wide opened clearing with dummies lying around.

_I guess this is where everyone spars if they don't want to be at the coliseum. _I said to Adaméte.

_I would not know. I do not pay attention to most of the people on this little island. _She replied to me, the tone in her voice made me think she just didn't like associating herself with people in general.

I thought about what she said and my mind drifted off to when she witnessed how evil some people really could be. It was a pretty bad feeling, how someone could be cruel to their own kind, making fun of, or just terrorizing others.

I walked around trying to get the right motion and feel for the armor, it was heavy and uncomfortable but I knew it was going to have to do. _Can't exactly be picky on something I have very little of, as long as it can protect me I should be fine, Adaméte you can do whatever I'll call for you in a while. _I said to her.

_What about if something may go wrong?_

_Well if something goes wrong I'm sure you'll be able to sense it, don't worry. _I gave her good emotions letting her know I'd be ok. Then after she nudged me she spread her wings and flew away past the clearing.

I brought my out my swords and the they seemed to make a ringing sound, the vibration sending a tingling feeling throughout my arms. I thought about striking down one of the dummies but instead I knew I needed to practice with both the swords and the armor I wore. I walked away from the dummies and strapped the sheaths of the swords to my hips, and sheathed the swords. I sprinted from one end of the field to the next feeling the weight of the armor, and as I kept running my body quickly got used to the weight, which surprised me. It was almost as if…_wait a minute…_I thought to myself.

I unsheathed the sword on the right side of my hip and uncovered part of my free arm…I decided to test something out. Taking the sword I laid the flat of the blade on my arm and then turned it, sure enough I got a small cut even though I wasn't even applying a pound of pressure. Applying more pressure I winced as pain started shooting through my arm. Sheathing the sword took a few seconds and when I took a look at where I had cut myself, a nice gash was in my arm…however slowly but surely you could see it healing itself I wondered if it were possible that I couldn't die, I had to test it someday maybe…_maybe not._

Watching the cut, it quickly regenerated new layers of skin, something you could only see on the movies. It didn't make sense, could it have actually been possible that superman or the green-lantern, or any of the superhero comics and movies were actually based off real events.

It made me think about how the government was working, I had seen plenty of movies where the government had some kind of secret. A light presence was in the area I was, watching me. I started pulling my swords out but then decided to wait and see if I knew the intruder, I learned something from my cousin, Adrian, he had told me the best way to protect yourself is to surprise your enemy, don't let them know you know they are there. I kept my senses completely alert, calming my mind enough and trying to control my breathing, and once I did I could another presence besides the one already there. I slid my swords out, and did a series of blows, counters, parries, and pushes to an invisible enemy, making sure whoever was watching would be wary of me, perhaps they wouldn't try to attack. Plenty of time passed, I even allowed myself to take a break, whoever was there was trying to wait me out, see when I'd get tired or they were waiting for me to head in the direction they were in, instead of doing what wanted however I sat down in the grass. I decided to wait them out, although I was never very good at patience, as the older people say, "Patience is a virtue." Well I must say it's definitely not one of mine.

Standing up I heard the light rustle of leaves and movement, someone was getting ready to come at me. They finally grew tired of waiting, my first attacker had what looked like two hatchets, only the blade color was bronze, they weren't very large, smaller than me, but the second attacker was quite a bit larger in in height and muscle. They both were running straight for me, helmets were off so I knew I was going to have to just play on the defensive until I were to tire them both out.

The shorter kid was quick as could be. I had a hard time blocking his heavy strikes. His buddy wasn't that good however, he carried a heavy broadsword that proved to slow him down, and his armor looked to be thick, so that wasn't going to help him any. I easily avoided them after a few minutes of sparring. The shorter kid was able to summon quick bursts of speed but was unable to keep it going, the big guy was just slow, I had a feeling however they were toying with me. I jumped high into the air feeling my adrenaline course through me, and as I did a summersault over their heads I tossed my sword down in the ground with enough force it stuck in the ground, it made both of them put their attention to the sword in the ground, I put that to my advantage. Landing in front of the bigger guy I tripped him making him fall on his butt, and I held him to sword point. The shorter kid was about to approach an strike but I dug the tip of my sword closer to the skin of the big guy.

"I wouldn't approach him Rover, the guy looks determined and ready to make the move and something tells me he's not afraid to…well kill." Said a voice from the other side of the field. Two kids stepped out from the shaded parts of the trees, they looked very familiar. "Look kid, you can take your sword point from his throat now, they won't you."

I thought about saying a snide comment back at him but I couldn't help but think of how I've seen him before. I walked over and grabbed my other sword out of the ground, and then it struck me.

"Is your name Brent?" I asked the one who seemed to be leading the other kid forward, Sean.

The guy looked around, like he was trying to think of how to answer then said, "Possibly, who's asking?"

"You don't need to worry about who I am. Just know that I really don't like you."

"Brent, this guy looks like he needs a lesson in manners, let me take care of him." The short kid said.

"Sean will you please tell Rover that he's no match for whoever this guy may be. I've been through enough to know when someone else has been through a lot as well, this guys is new here, I was wrong to have you and Adam train against him. First glances are normally wrong I should have known but when I was about to stop it I became…interested." He looked at me then said, "How were you able to jump so high?"

I replied with a tint of anger, "almost the same way you are able to control that boomerang that's hidden on your back."

I must have struck a nerve or something because he staggered back like I smacked him in the face, then he smiled. "Your good kid, but you have no idea who you're messing with."

"I believe I'm looking at a simple bully."

Sean, Brent's right hand man pulled out a small knife, then he clicked a button and suddenly his small pocket knife expanded into a sword not much different than mine, "You should really watch how you say things newbie." Sean spat out.

"He's not worth our time. He's just some kid trying to train and is trying to provoke us into a fight." Brent smiled and then whistled, calling for his Pegasí.

Rover said to me awhile after Sean and Brent left, "Hey man sorry about all that Vick and I are brothers," he helped the fallen muscle man," we were well I'm trying to get into the group Brent and Sean are in, fighting you was a test to see how good we were, and Vick wanted to help me out."

At first I didn't know what to say but then felt a little sympathy towards him, "Rover, you shouldn't want to join whatever group Brent is in."

"No, you don't understand, I have a power that I don't know how to control…you don't know how hard it is for me to fit in."

"Was that why you were struggling, you were trying to find access to the powers within you? And trust me, I know how hard it is, try having my name, Predicous, you spell it out and the teachers are dumb enough to pronounce it wrong." I laughed.

Vick decided to join our conversation, "what did you mean about us, that we shouldn't want to join Brent's group? The group he's in gets us free supplies, and also there are teachers within that group who can show us how to use our power."

I pondered what he said but I knew from personal experience that to learn most things you just have to figure them out you get better results, sure it takes longer but the results are better.

"Look," I said, I was about to tell them a better way to learn about their powers until I decided to just show them, "watch." I said.

I waited as slowly I could feel the heat in my body rise, but that's not what I wanted, I thought about the oxygen in my hand that I held and then I could feel my hand start to heat up rapidly. Suddenly for once I let out a breath and then a simple

©Jon McMillian, notarized by public authorities, copyright of this material will result in the summoning of the law.


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